ROUTE - October / November 2022

Kick Back on Route 66

We’ll Show You Around Springfield!

Whether it’s classic cars, old-fashioned burgers or a museum that brings history to life, you can relive the glory days of Route 66 in its birthplace. We love our city and know the best places to eat, drink and play. See you in Springfield, Missouri!

Point your smartphone camera at this QR code to find out more about things to do in Springfield.

Willowbrook

Chicago Romeoville

Joliet

Joliet Wilmington

Braidwood

Dwight Pontiac Pontiac

VISIT HISTORIC CLAREMORE, OKLAHOMA IN THE HEART OF ROUTE 66.

HOME TO THE “FATHER OF ROUTE 66”

Tulsa is simply a must for any Route 66 trek. Once known as “The Oil Capital of the World,” T-Town is recognized today for countless unique attributes such as a skyline brimming with cherished Art Deco architectural treasures, pivotal art, music and history museums―and of course―a massive collection of Route 66 landmarks along its 26-mile stretch of the Mother Road. Tulsa really is the city of everything you could ask for... and more.

There’s an energy to Amarillo that makes you feel right at home when cruising down Route 66 or strolling through the shops and restaurants in the Route 66 Historic District. The city hums with pride for where it came from and glimmers with new creativity. So put the top back, roll the windows down, crank up the tunes, and see all The Mother Road has to offer in Amarillo, TX.

EXPERIENCE THE HEART OF THE MOTHER ROAD IN AMARILLO.

CONTENTS

20 A Fresh Face on 66

By Mike Vieira

Maria and Naser Ahmedi have proven that you don’t have to grow up on the Mother Road to operate an iconic restaurant stop. Steeped in family food business experience in other Illinois towns, this family embraced the Route 66 vibe, dusted off the family recipes, hired a mural painter, and turned an old restaurant building into a vibrant must-stop in the charming small town of Dwight, Illinois.

26 Route 66 Museum

By Cheryl Eichar Jett

Pat Smith grew up with Route 66 in the front yard of her house, so it’s no wonder that she ended up working for and being a large part of the development of The Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma. Discover the story of this hugely popular Route 66 museum and the passionate people behind it.

38 Graystone Heights

By Michael Rogers

Drawn by the restored “Modern Cabins” neon sign, travelers find themselves at R & S Memorial Decorations amidst ruins and long-gone towns west of Springfield, Missouri. Learn about the rise and fall of this once-charming lodging, the family that moved their floral business into its cabins, and how their growing sense of the importance of its preservation led them to restore its appearance.

54 A Conversation with James Caan

By Brennen Matthews

Brennen Matthews could never have expected that this interview, which first started in 2021, would never be finished.

James Caan passed away on July 6, 2022. As a homage to everything that this man was and what he stood for, this interview gives an inside-look at Caan’s life and the paths that made up his extraordinary and impressive career.

60 Still Servin’

By Phoebe Billups

Route 66 is known for burgers, quirkiness, and that iconic diner ambience, and Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe serves up all three with style and family service. Set in the high desert at Victorville, California, it’s known for serving as a backdrop for a variety of movies and TV shows. A true family venture, the owners of the pistachio-green cafe honor its humble beginnings and chain of ownership.

ON THE COVER

Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on 66, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photograph by Efren Lopez/ Route66Images.

Route 66 Diner, Albuquerque, NM. Photograph by Efren Lopez/Route66Images.

EDITORIAL

It has always been an odd thing, as editor of a classic Americana, Route 66, road travel magazine — I am blessed to work on amazing stories connected to classic history, colorful personalities, and roadside icons, but spend much of the year trapped in the confines of my office. I remain sustained by the countless tales that I discover throughout the year and that we bring readers in each issue of ROUTE. My main salvation comes in the summer months when life allows me the freedom to hit the open road for myself. I travel with my family: my wife Kate and son Thembi. Together, we have explored much of the country and have now done Route 66 — start to finish — ten wonderful times. Every year offers new and memorable experiences and a reconnect with people, places, and history that we’ve gotten to know well over the years. Recently, we hit the road again for the longest journey of our lives, close to three straight months on lonely highways, and across country that was vast, desolate, and beautiful. At the time of writing this editorial, I have just returned and am both exhausted (one does grow to miss their own bed) and invigorated. 2022 down Route 66 was an eye-opening experience. I am increasingly concerned with what is being lost in the West, especially in Arizona and California, due to weather, vandalism, and neglect, but encouraged by all of the new life and energy finding its way to the historic highway. Destinations like Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios in Tulsa, Oklahoma, are prime examples of new and enthusiastic folks finding their way to the old highway, and longtime stops like the Jackrabbit Trading Post and Midpoint Cafe proof that longevity is very possible, even in today’s “what’s the next new thing” world.

This season, we were grateful for the hospitality offered by so many dear people and were relieved to witness so much movement on the road. Even the international tourists have begun to return and seem more thrilled than ever to be on Route 66. 2022 has seen a rise in events happening along the Mother Road and an increase in the number of attendees. If all stays on course, I expect that we are nicely on the road to recovery across the nation, with Route 66 setting the standard. And that is important as we are gearing up for the highway’s 100th birthday and the country’s 250th in 2026. This is a time to be focused and passionate.

In this issue, we focus on a number of great stories that are important to tell. There is a family restaurant that has helped reinvigorate the tiny but wonderful town of Dwight, Illinois, and a cafe in the middle of the California desert that have both been serving delicious food and a tantalizing experience for decades. Both are perfect examples of life and business along America’s most famous and ever-changing road. There is a museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, that offers an experience like no other along 66, but the journey of the couple behind it may be just as interesting. Down in Missouri, appearing almost out of nowhere along the road, is a flower business that was built in a repurposed historic roadside motel, and over in quirky Seligman, Arizona, rests an odd gift shop/ coffee shop that has continued to find a fresh fun face with each new owner over the years. These and so many other stories fill this fall issue’s pages.

Now, October is of course the month of Halloween. As a special treat, we’ve brought you two intriguing tales of murder found in towns along 66. I hope that rather than disturb you, these fascinating true stories will make the highway even more alluring. Route 66 is not always the romanticized place that it is often made out to be, nor should it be. Where is the fun in that? If you want a carefully measured, intentionally crafted road trip, the Mother Road is not it. The enjoyment in a Route 66 road trip is that you never know what is around the bend. It represents real life out on the road and a truly American experience. The darker side of life and America is at times just as scrumptious.

I am particularly excited this month as my book, Miles to Go, finally hits shelves. I would love for you to order a copy today and join us on our very first journey down Route 66. On this summer’s trip, it was interesting to absorb and analyze through the lens of that very first journey down the Mother Road and across America. Join us and come face to face with the many variations of people, places, and cultures that we encountered that very first time. It was quite a trip, and for us, and many before us, a life changer.

Remember to follow us on social media, and if you are new to ROUTE, visit us online to subscribe now. And with Christmas around the corner, give a gift subscription. Show your loved ones that you care all year long with stories and imagery that will inspire them to hit the highway themselves.

Stay safe out there.

Blessings, Brennen Matthews

Editor

ROUTE

PUBLISHER

Thin Tread Media

EDITOR Brennen Matthews

DEPUTY EDITOR

Kate Wambui

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Cheryl Eichar Jett

EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Nick Gerlich

LEAD EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHER

David J. Schwartz

LAYOUT AND DESIGN

Tom Heffron

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Lauren Sanyal

Mitch Brown

Rachel McCumber

DIGITAL

Matheus Alves

ILLUSTRATOR

Jennifer Mallon

CONTRIBUTORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS

Chandler O’Leary

David Burns Dennis Garrels

Efren Lopez/Route66Images

Eric Axene

Iconic Images

Laura Love Lindsay Seltzer Mary Van Winkle

Michael Rogers Mike Vieira

Phoebe Billups

Editorial submissions should be sent to brennen@routemagazine.us

To subscribe visit www.routemagazine.us.

Advertising inquiries should be sent to advertising@routemagazine.us or call 905 399 9912.

ROUTE is published six times per year by Thin Tread Media. No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the Publisher. The views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor, or service contractors. Every effort has been made to maintain the accuracy of the information presented in this publication. No responsibility is assumed for errors, changes or omissions. The Publisher does not take any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photography.

Culture you can step into.

Storyteller Museum

Monday - Friday

Gallup Cultural Center

Summer Indigenous Arts: Dances Monday, Wednesday, Friday May - August Gallup Cultural Center

Summer Indigenous Arts: Demonstrations Fridays, May - August Gallup Cultural Center

Every decade offers its own trends in what type of entertainment is popular to enjoy on television. Over the last few years, a surprising genre has come forward in popularity: that of nostalgia. There is an interest or perhaps a hunger, for shows that harken back to an earlier period in American history and culture. The subject matter is one that has long fascinated Americans: the days of the Old West and the westward expansion of “progress and development” in the United States. This year introduced us to a 10-episode series that proved to be just what viewers were hankering for. 1883, a prequel to the hugely successful series Yellowstone, which is about the fascinating but chaotic Dutton family, hit the Paramount+ network and chronicled an earlier generation of the Duttons as they journey by wagon train along with a group of European immigrants and their cattle from Fort Worth, Texas, to Oregon. In a twist of fate, they wind up settling in Montana instead.

Filming occurred in and around the Fort Worth area, the 6666 Ranch in the Panhandle, and Montana. The series was created and written by Taylor Sheridan, and while it is entirely dramatized, it was inspired by the very real westward migration of people across the U.S. in the 19th Century, but that is where television meeting real life ends.

“It is entirely a fiction,” said Michael Grauer, the McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. “As far as the setting of 1883, there were no immigrant wagon trains going to Oregon at that time. If you wanted to move to Oregon, you got on a railroad. I think that Mr. Sheridan is very much a student of cinematic history, but Hollywood has done a good job using key words and key names. These catch the public ear, so there are certain things that happened in plot structures that took advantage of that.”

The series did however, showcase the very real challenges faced by early settlers, including indigenous peoples, weather, rattlesnakes, and rogue ne’er-do-wells stealing and murdering for the fun of it.

“There would have been virtually no encounters with warlike Native Americans, because the Red River War had sewn that up by 1875, and in the Northern Plains by 1877,” Grauer explained. “Any natives they encountered by 1883 would have been mere renegades, and there were very few of them.”

Also, legendary cattle drives were a thing of the past by 1883. By then, the remaining drives would have been farther west, skirting the Panhandle en route to Dodge City, then up to Montana, Wyoming, and the Canadian prairie provinces.

Cattle from the Lone Star state had earned a bad reputation for Texas fever, an illness that could lay waste to a herd—or those cattle with which they came in contact—in short order. The result was the “dead line,” a quarantine zone that moved westward over time. Texan cattle quickly became unwelcome. Whereas the first major cattle drives happened after the American Civil War starting around 1866, and saw cattle driven to Chicago and St. Louis, the growing quarantine pushed the drives farther and farther west. “The Chisholm Trail system ceased to operate by the mid-1870s,” said Grauer. Other historical misappropriations included the movement of immigrants. While President Abraham Lincoln had passed the Homestead Act in 1862, allotting a quarter-section (160 acres) land to settlers willing to head out into the prairies, it was not until after 1887, when the railroad finally crossed the Texas Panhandle, that immigrants and others actually arrived. And even then, a quarter section was not enough to sustain a family in an area with such scant water available.

Still, Grauer is complimentary of Sheridan’s vision of the period, but with a few caveats. “1883 is partly an immigrant story, partly a cattle trailing story, partly a Native American story. I think it would have been better titled if it had been 1873.” Still, he credits Sheridan with “…creating good television, good drama. The people they met, the hardships they encountered… those existed, but ten years earlier.”

In other words, the elements of the show were factual, just from a different era. Grauer paraphrased American painter Grant Wood: “We are not making colored photographs. We’re giving new life to old fables. That’s what Taylor Sheridan did. He gave new life to an old fable.”

MAKING MUSIC

Of all the famous attractions that Route 66 has been home to, many have been movie palaces — those wondrous and often Art Deco-glamorous theaters that served up screen magic in high style. The saddest chapter of the story tells us that many have been razed to make way for “progress” and changing tastes. But among the tragic tales of destruction, the iconic Art Deco sign of Oklahoma City’s Tower Theatre in the Uptown 23rd District glows again. It’s undeniably a gem along Route 66 and a true testament to the city’s commitment to preserving its unique and beautiful history.

The Tower Theatre was designed in 1937 by prolific theater architect W. Scott Dunne to stand along 23rd Street — originally Route 66 — and was owned by the Standard Theaters Corporation. “Dunne was a Texas-based architect who designed many movie theaters throughout Texas and Oklahoma,” explained Lynda Ozan, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. “In Oklahoma, his designs included theaters in Enid, Tulsa, McAlester, and Durant [besides] Oklahoma City.” The Tower was notable for its beautiful design among one of the half-dozen new “neighborhood houses” in Oklahoma City.

Upon opening its doors in 1937, there were seats available for just 35 cents, a fire-proof smoking balcony, “scientific refrigeration” to escape the harsh Southwestern heat, and special equipment for the hard of hearing. Over the next quarter-century, the Tower became a well-loved place for parents to take their children, for sweethearts to snuggle under the glow of the screen, and for moving picture enthusiasts to catch Hollywood’s latest feature films.

But in 1962, with newer suburban theaters (with free parking) opening, the Tower closed. In 1963, the theater changed hands and was remodeled and reopened by operators Farris Shanbour and Charles Shadid. In its second Golden Era, the theater boasted an impressive 82-week run of The Sound of Music in 1965.

But the Tower’s 1960s heydays ended in 1970 when it became part of a large group of local theaters leased to the Spectro group. Clearly, quantity won out over quality as, by the ‘80s, the Tower began showing adult movies. As the rather murky history of the lessees changed, the Tower

limped along until its closing in 1989, when its neon sign went dark.

In 1999, the theater morphed into a short-lived music venue for exactly one year. Then, in 2011, the neon sign briefly came alive after being restored with grant money from the Route 66 Heritage Corridor program. But then, all went quiet until 2014, when three local developers, David Wanzer, Ben Sellers, and Jonathan Dodson, purchased the rundown theater. Their project became a historic tax credit renovation of the theater and its surrounding storefronts, with Fitzsimmons Architects leading the transformation.

In January 2016, a crowd gathered to watch the Tower’s neon sign light up once more in anticipation of the theater’s reopening that spring after a two-year renovation. “This was not a part of town that people wanted to be in because it was in disrepair for decades. So it was a really beautiful thing that they renovated the theater and all the property around it,” said Chad Whitehead, one of the current operating partners of the Tower Theatre. “There was a previous operator in 2016. That [business] ‘went south,’ which is what gave us — my partner, Stephen Tyler, and I — the opportunity to reopen it in 2017.”

With the restored original sign glowing above, this historic venue now hosts everything from live music to rock musicals to film screenings. “The developers envisioned Tower Theater being a live music venue, and I think it fits in the marketplace of today,” said Whitehead.

It may be a difficult task to capture the glam and excitement of a vintage movie theater while accommodating the modern needs of an event space. However, the “new” Tower Theatre seems to have found the right balance while reclaiming its place as a vibrant part of the Uptown 23rd District.

It’s true that the Tower is no longer exactly the movie palace that it was 85 years ago – but then, Oklahoma City is no longer the prairie town it once was. Both have grown and changed, together, with the tastes and the times. The Tower Theatre is set to continue welcoming both local and traveling patrons as it approaches its Centennial year — with a style that only a turn-of-the-century movie house can offer.

Image by David J. Schwartz –Pics On Route 66.

A

SWEET STORY

We all grow up and become adults, but in some ways, our childhood remains forever inside of us. Everything changes, and yet, some things stay the same. “When I was a kid, I most often ordered a plain white long john and a chocolate milk,” said Kevin McKernan, a 39-year-old high school theater teacher who has happy memories of picking up long johns at the Donut Drive-In with his mother before heading to nearby Francis Park. “[Through] high school, going away to college, moving to a couple other cities, having a place stay the same every time you come home is special.”

To McKernan, who has lived most of his life in St. Louis, Missouri, the Donut Drive-In at 6525 Chippewa Street was that special place — it stayed the same. It was so special, in fact, that he now owns it. After finding a ‘for sale’ posting for a donut shop, which he immediately recognized as a description of the Donut Drive-In, he reacted. After reassuring the sellers that they would not change the business, McKernan and his wife, Erin, purchased the iconic donut shop in March of 2020. “I wanted to help be a part of maintaining it for the next generations,” he said.

Customers have likely been smiling at Donut Drive-In for quite some time — since the business opened almost 70 years ago. Although documentation is hard to come by in regard to the business dealings, oral traditions, and local word-of-mouth about the shop have kept names and dates alive across the decades. Apparently, in the early 1950s, the little white shop was built on what was then Route 66 by John Harter, who passed the ownership to his daughter and her husband, Bill Wachter. In 1980, Tom Charleville, owner of Thomas Coffee Company, purchased the donut store, operating the business until 1996. It was then sold to the four Schwartz brothers, who also operated several St. Louis-area Dunkin’ Donuts locations.

It was in 2008 when the Donut Drive-In’s iconic neon sign was restored, after going dark in the early 1990s. The Neon Heritage Preservation Committee (NHPC), a subgroup of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, formed in 2006 to find homes for orphaned neon signs and to restore inactive neon signs still remaining in their original locations, invested in

ensuring that the historic neon shone once again on Route 66. Affectionately known as “Team Neon,” the Donut Drive-In’s sign was their first project.

However, despite renewed interest due to the sign and other Route 66 visibility, in early 2020, retirement beckoned the Schwartz family, and they listed it for sale, and that’s when McKernan found the posting. The couple’s timing in purchasing the business was less than sweet. They didn’t know it at the time, but the pandemic was just around the corner. The shop wasn’t open a week under their new leadership before it had to close its doors, but there were silver linings. They added online ordering and a pick-up booth, and they did away with a credit card minimum. Additionally there was community support. “The community is loyal and diverse,” McKernan said. “People from all over [still] come to get our donuts. That means a lot to us. They buy up all our goodies, like T-shirts and mugs.”

Now, the McKernans concentrate on continuing to produce what is often touted as St. Louisans’ favorite donut. When Kevin is not teaching theater classes or performing improv with his students, he’s icing cinnamon swirls or sugaring donut holes early in the morning or distributing left-over products to various institutions at the end of a busy day. It’s also clear that he loves working the counter with his coworkers and his wife. “It’s fun to laugh with everyone there and see the smiles on customers’ faces,” McKernan said.

Those smiles might be because these really are the best donuts for miles around. Or they may be triggered by that gorgeous neon sign lighting up the Midwestern night. Or maybe it’s the warm, fragrant surroundings that are capable of conjuring up special memories.

At a time when a great many Mother Road businesses have sadly closed or been reinvented, the Donut Drive-In has remained essentially the same — through a variety of loving owners — for close to three-quarters of a century now. And with a little luck — and a little more loving care — it will easily continue to meet the sweet needs of the Gateway City for decades to come.

Image by David J. Schwartz –Pics On Route 66.

FACE

By Mike Vieira

Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

istoric Route 66 has always been an evolutionary highway — its course moved, its paving altered, and its mom-and-pop businesses alternately birthing and dying according to the path of the route and the whim of its travelers. Businesses changed hands, moved, closed, and opened. Multi-generational family enterprises are rightfully honored for their multidecade existence, while brand-new attractions spring up along the route. The best of these look and feel like they’ve been there a long time, and that’s a compliment.

Although the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant didn’t get its start until 2001, years after the Mother Road was decommissioned as an official U.S. highway, the Dwight, Illinois, eatery has rapidly embraced the history and atmosphere surrounding the old route in such a way that it has become an important stop for those touring the Main Street of America. Situated some 75 miles from the Chicago terminus of Route 66, just off Interstate 55, and near the intersection of State Highways 17 and 47, there is no shortage of hungry motorists passing through the area.

Festooned with memorabilia and souvenirs of America’s Main Street, the restaurant allows visitors to step back into the highway’s heyday to enjoy those slower paced times while they fill themselves with comfort food and American cuisine specialties. Heritage tourists often specifically seek out the restaurant because they’ve seen it featured in a book or magazine, or it might catch their eye when they are passing by or making a stop at the Dwight Visitor’s Center in the 1933 Texaco station barely a block away. And what they get for their choice to come in for a meal are generous portions of made-from-scratch fare from recipes handed down through generations, served in a friendly, unique atmosphere. They get vintage Route 66.

Owner Maria Ahmedi’s customers are a mix of those folks touring the famous highway, travelers who are looking for the nostalgia of bygone days, motorists who jump off the nearby Interstate highway for some nourishment, and local folks who know where to get a great meal and great service. Reputation and word-ofmouth have been the best advertising for the restaurant, regardless of which group the diners may fall into. A long list of accolades and awards, including Illinois Country Living magazine’s Top Restaurant in 2017, along with many outstanding reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor over the years, have helped cement their standing as a top establishment in the region. Even more notoriety will come shortly when the restaurant’s story is featured in an episode of the new TV show Destination Chicago. “We just had our twenty-year anniversary in November, and people know we put out great food,” said Maria. But this family restaurant actually got its start with the previous generation.

HTruly a Family Restaurant

Jim Jashari, or “Grandpa Jimmy,” as Maria’s dad is affectionately known, opened his first eatery, the Spring Valley Family Restaurant, in 1977 in Spring Valley, Illinois, and later opened another family restaurant in Seneca, Illinois. Maria grew up learning the business and developing her determination and work ethic at the Seneca restaurant, where later on her soon-to-be husband, Naser Ahmedi, also worked in the food business. “I used to watch my dad make everything, and I remembered it in my head. It was never written down. He never wrote anything down. I just watched him all the time, and I learned how to cook there.” Following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of her dad, Maria decided to branch out on her own in 1993 following her marriage to Naser.

In that busy year, the couple also welcomed a baby boy and opened the Wishing Well Cafe along the Route 66 corridor in Odell, Illinois. “I was pretty ambitious and pretty gutsy,” said Maria. After ten years of success with the Wishing Well Cafe, the couple purchased Stark’s Restaurant, about eight miles farther up the road on old Route 66 in Dwight.

Bill Stark had long been known as a restaurateur of popular eating places in Dwight. For years, he operated the Crown Restaurant at the intersection of US Highway 66 and Illinois Route 47 at the northeast edge of Dwight, the same intersection where another eatery, The Coffeehouse, widely advertised the intersection as “the first stoplight south of Chicago.” Later, Stark built a one-story building two-anda-half miles farther southeast on Route 66 at its intersection with Illinois Route 17. He opened his Stark’s Restaurant on September 18, 1978, advertising that he was open daily from 5AM to 8PM. By the time Stark was ready to retire in 2001, the Ahmedi family was ready to purchase the location.

On November 5, 2001, the Ahmedi family opened their new restaurant in Dwight, a charming and picturesque town of 4,000 in the heart of a busy area that embraces and promotes Route 66 tourism.

Maria and Naser ran both the Wishing Well and the Dwight restaurant for two years, but not wanting to continue the stress of operating two restaurants at once, the ideal location on Route 66 and the size of the Dwight facility made it the one to keep, and they sold the Wishing Well Cafe in January 2003. Then, with renovations going on after hours in order to keep the business open and running every day, the couple transformed the former Stark’s Restaurant into a real Route 66 attraction – the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant.

“We’ve worked really hard throughout the years and made it work. It’s been up and down, it’s not easy,” Maria said. “It’s a hard business, and sometimes when it rains, it pours, and then there are days when it’s a breeze.”

As for Maria, although she did not have a personal history of travel on Route 66, back during her operation of the Wishing Well, historians and authors John and Lenore Weiss, along with other Route 66 Association members and enthusiasts, were frequent visitors with whom Maria became good friends. The growing influence of Route 66 tourism was bringing more and more visitors to the area, greatly increasing Maria’s interest and knowledge of the highway, and gradually making her a part of the Mother Road experience.

Even today, John Weiss leads regular bus tours that stop at the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant. “The reason is because the service and quality of food we receive from Maria, her family, and staff is remarkable,” Weiss said. “When we arrive, she greets all of the folks, and when we are leaving, Maria hops on the bus to thank everyone for stopping. This is a very nice, homey gesture, and she tells them that she and

her family are ‘living the American Dream’ thanks to people like them.”

365 Days a Year

That “American Dream” needs a lot of loving care to keep the restaurant open 365 days a year at 6AM, and Maria, or another family member, is always at the restaurant as a manager to provide a guiding hand to keep everything on track. “The entire family, except my granddaughter, because she’s only two, works here,” Maria said. “We have my son, my two daughters, my daughter-in-law, and my husband. He’s more behind the scenes and supervisory, but my kids and I are hands-on with everything.” That’s in addition to the numerous other staff members that are such an important part of the eatery’s success.

“Our staff is wonderful, and I treat them with respect, and they treat me with respect. I’m really flexible with them, and that’s key to keeping a great staff. I hate turnover, and I love that they stay with me for many years. We work as a team,

Maria Ahmedi and family pose in front of their iconic 1973 American LaFrance fire engine.

our family and staff. We work where we’re needed, and just get the job done, and I think that’s why we’ve succeeded.”

In addition to the regular restaurant business, along with drive-thru and take-out options, delivery and catering services have been part of their offerings since the beginning, so there’s always plenty of work to be done to stay on top of things, and a part for everyone to play. In addition to the many long-term employees at the restaurant, high school students looking for work find a welcome reception from the venue.

“We all do our part, and since my kids grew up and are able to help out, it really makes a difference. Our business has progressed at the same time as they got older, and it really helps me out that we can work together as a family.”

A Dream Makeover

Maria and her family shut down the restaurant for seven months during the worst of the pandemic in 2020, but they really put that time to good use. Although they already had a Route 66-themed decoration scheme at the restaurant, which they had created in their overnight renovations when they first took over the location, they wanted to improve upon it. The family decided on a “clean slate” approach, stripping the building to the bare walls in a remodel that created a much more elaborate vision of the ultimate Route 66 restaurant.

Again, it was a family effort, with everyone pitching in to create the rustic, homey atmosphere that would make customers feel even more welcome; a look that they would find entertaining and comfortable. With assistance from the Illinois Small Business Development Center at the Starved Rock Country Alliance, they were able to weather the shutdown and emerge stronger with their dream restaurant design. The family spent many long hours personally doing the hard work that yielded the result that they were aiming for.

Among the new additions is a reception desk made from the real front end of a 1973 American LaFrance fire engine, with working lights and a bell greeting visitors as

they enter. Originally built from spare parts by Herb Weyers, a Chicago area LaFrance sales representative, as a promotional tool at fire conferences, it was acquired by Dwight businessman and fire memorabilia trader Alex McWilliams when LaFrance was done with it. Maria had seen the unique décor piece years earlier in McWilliams’ office and felt it would be a perfect fit for the renovated restaurant. She said it was an expensive purchase, but feels that the one-of-a-kind nature of the item made it well worth it. They didn’t hook up the siren, because they felt it would be too loud and might frighten people, but they do use the bell for birthdays and special occasions. “[When we turn on the lights], the kids like it, but the adults love it!” Maria enthused. “Adults are really kids at heart, and when we showcase it to them, they’re just overwhelmed with joy when they see it.”

Another important — if less flamboyant addition — is an interior mural, painted by local artist Steve Connor, depicting famous sights along the length of Route 66 (to go along with the eye-catching patriotic mural Connor painted on the exterior of the restaurant back in 2002.)

The family prepped a blank upper wall wrapping around the dining area, then turned the artist loose for several weeks to complete his rendering of Mother Road hot spots from Chicago to Los Angeles.

In terms of functional improvements, they added 1,500 square feet and upped their dining capacity from 120 to 150, added a new kitchen, new restrooms, a new dishwashing area, and a new walk-in freezer and storage area.

Looking to the Future

The multi-generational success of the Old Route 66 Family Restaurant is likely to continue, as Maria’s husband Naser, son Luan, daughters Brendita and Lindita, and daughterin-law Malia will continue to be a big part of the present operation, and with her two-year-old granddaughter Leona and a new grandson on the way, there will be future family members who Maria hopes will carry on the tradition.

“I explain to the folks on the tour[s] that the Route 66 experience is not about the road itself. That is simply what connects each town and its people,” said Weiss. “People, such as Maria, is what Route 66 is all about.”

This is the art and craft of creating a new “old” Route 66 destination business in modern times. It’s the skill learned from a previous generation and the hard work of the upcoming generations. It’s not a historic building, but it’s legendary hospitality. As this multi-generational restaurant continues to garner accolades, more and more travelers say they’ve eaten there, and that the food is great. But yet, after meeting Maria, they too remember that it’s all about the people.

Steve Connor’s exterior mural boldly stands out on the side of the restaurant.

By Cheryl Eichar Jett

Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

nce upon a time, Route 66 traffic was heavy through all the long, dusty length of Oklahoma. Next to a small farm near Clinton that edged right up to the road’s pavement, U.S. Highway 66 traffic hurried by a family’s front yard, where a little girl and her sister sat in their swings, wondering where all those cars were going. That memory never left the little girl, whose name was Pat — short for Patricia — and although she moved off that farm, she never strayed very far from the Mother Road’s path — and its story — through Custer County, Oklahoma.

Years later, all those cars had moved over onto the newly opened I-40, where they moved even faster, and Pat, with a college degree in business and a husband named Virgil Smith, was working in an office job for the State of Oklahoma. Pat, always interested in history and never forgetting her childhood memories of the intrigue of Route 66 flowing through her native state, heard of an opening at the Western Trails Museum in Clinton. She applied and was hired in 1989, and although it hasn’t been known as the Western Trails Museum since 1995, Pat is still there, doing what she loves — carefully tending to the history of Route 66 — arguably one of the most important trails to ever wind its way through Oklahoma.

Known as the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum since its grand opening in 1995, the former Western Trails Museum pulls in thousands of visitors a year to see and hear the Mother Road’s romantic story through elaborate, interactive exhibits along a Route 66 “highway” that curves throughout the museum’s 10,000-square-foot building. And Pat Smith is still there, greeting guests and keeping things running smoothly. The story of this neon-kissed museum is a textbook lesson in success, but it begins with the museum’s predecessor.

The Western Trails Museum

The Oklahoma Territory was crisscrossed with trails — Indian traces, military roads, settlers’ and pioneers’ wagon tracks, and the paths of the great cattle drives, such as the Great Western Trail and the famed Chisholm Trail, regarded at the time as a near-wonder of the western world. Transportation, no matter the conveyance, has always been of great importance throughout what became the State of Oklahoma in 1907. And in the small city of Clinton, which grew from a railroad junction just south of the town site to a village first named Washita Junction, the city fathers recognized the importance of transportation, from the horse and buggy bouncing along a dirt path to a shiny finned automobile flying by on Route 66.

And so, in 1968, the Western Trails Museum was opened and operated by the Oklahoma Industrial Trust and Recreation Department (which later became the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation) to tell the story of all who traversed the area. A brand-new building was

Oconstructed just for that purpose at 2229 West Gary Boulevard — on Route 66 — with close to 10,000 square feet of space in which to display artifacts reminiscent of the state’s various modes of travel.

The new museum enjoyed a significant grand opening, coinciding with a huge event in Clinton — the 76th anniversary of the 1892 Oklahoma Land Run, which had introduced white settlement onto former Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian reservation land. On the weekend of April 19-20, 1968, a big parade, two days of rodeo, Indian dances, and near-constant programs from the reviewing stand brought an estimated 20,000 attendees into town. The edifice continued to operate, with support from the Oklahoma Department of Tourism, until it closed in 1993, the victim of auto traffic moving onto the interstate and a waning interest in local history.

But it was to this building and to the Western Trails Museum that Pat Smith, who never forgot the highway that she fascinatedly watched as a child, came in 1989, not long before that museum’s closure. “[Although] my degree was in business and I actually worked for the state, I had a friend that worked for the museum, and she encouraged me to come there. At the time there was an opening as a historic site interpreter, and I ended up going to work for the museum,” Smith explained. “I enjoyed it so much that I’ve been there all this time!”

A Change in Focus

Smith did stay put, but in 1991, Oklahoma’s tourism department was faced with a problem. Dotted around the state were several small museums that the department was still supporting, albeit with limited, local interest. Whereas, the Oklahoma Historical Society had begun to develop museum themes that could continue to share regional history, but with a more universal appeal that would do a better job of attracting visitors. And so, the Western Trails Museum in Clinton was included in the transfer of several small museums in the early 1990s, from the state’s tourism department to its historical society.

Sandy Stratton, Development and Special Projects Director at the Oklahoma Historical Society, along with the staff of the Western Trails Museum, began a dialogue about

converting the museum to a Route 66 theme to attract a wider audience. Just as the town’s businesses along Route 66 had suffered from the interstate bypass, so too had the mainly local-interest museum. Clearly, a Route 66 revival in Clinton would be a good thing. And so, the Western Trails Museum closed in 1993 for a comprehensive redesign by Oklahoma City architect Rand Elliott, recognized for his sensitivity to culture and setting in his architectural work. In 1995, the stunning new Oklahoma Route 66 Museum opened under the auspices and support of the Oklahoma State Historical Society with a shiny new look, an appealing new focus, and a new young curator.

The state historical society had hired a contract employee, Jeffrey Moore, as curator of the new Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. “It had been decades since the historical society had actually created a new museum. It was early ‘90s, right after Michael Wallis published his book, one

of the first books on 66. It was the first publicly funded museum on the route, so all that was very exciting. As the curator, I was responsible for overseeing the acquisition and the installation of the objects — artifacts, documents, photographs, cars. It was kind of a big scavenger hunt and the fact that it was a new project added to the enthusiasm in the agency and staff,” Moore explained.

Changing the museum’s focus really took flight when another Clinton resident, Gladys Cutberth, offered support in the way of donations from the vast collection belonging to her and her late husband, Jack Cutberth. Cutberth’s donations became a very real kickoff to the transition into the Route 66 Museum. The Cutberths had headed up the U.S. Highway 66 Association for decades and became an information clearinghouse for Route 66 enthusiasts and travelers. “All the information, the letters, and all the correspondence, of where they communicated all over

Vintage images and memorabilia decorate the gift shop and lobby in the Route 66 Museum.

the United States from Chicago to Santa Monica, was donated, and artifacts from their travels all over Route 66, artifacts that we could put in our curio cabinet,” Smith said. And Jack Cutberth’s podium that he used for the Route 66 Association has been put to use at almost all the museum’s events.

But there was more to come. “We also had Joe Morgan, who was an engineer for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), help us acquire numerous artifacts that were actually used on Route 66. He got us the road grader, cement mixer, the actual original tables that were in the park areas along Route 66, and signage,” Smith added. Other pieces that came from the Department of Transportation included actual pieces of the concrete curb and cutaway pieces of the original road.

“The artifacts and road equipment from ODOT showed the importance of a state department of transportation and how critical their role is in the 66 story,” Moore said. “Infrastructure and logistics were incredibly important, and in the ‘20s, that was a new concept. You’re just two decades from horse and buggy and it’s not like all that was established.”

The First Route 66 Museum Opens

During the summer of 1995, Oklahoma Historical Society’s Museums Director Kathy Dickson announced that $16,231 in funding had been awarded by the Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities for projects for the new Route 66 Museum. This was in addition to the $17,320 raised by the Friends of Oklahoma Route 66 Association in Clinton, plus $9,973 worth of in-kind contributions. Altogether, about a million dollars in federal, state, and private funds renovated the building, created the exhibits, added “fins” to the roofline,

and constructed a stunning new facade for the building, consisting of a glass-fronted lobby and an addition to the gift shop just behind it.

“Rand Elliot, the architect responsible for the remodel, added the architectural features that we associate with the Mother Road and the ‘50s and the post-war economic boom, resulting in people going on vacations,” said Moore. “What seals 66 in the minds of so many people is that boom of creativity with cars. That’s something that was captured in the architectural design of the building.”

A crowd of 3,000 people showed up on Saturday, September 23, 1995, for the opening of the new Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and Lt. Governor Mary Fallin each presided over separate opening ceremonies.

Curator Jeff Moore remained at the new museum for about six months after its opening, before being transitioned by the Oklahoma Historical Society into opening other new museums as their Curator of Special Projects. But the experience and thrill of opening the first Route 66 museum stayed with him. “It all started with working on Route 66 and being able to really engage the community and do something lasting for Oklahoma.”

Up to the 25th Anniversary

In 1999, Pat Smith became the Museum Director. It was a role that she had been preparing for her whole life. “Having the personal memories was a plus. It made it more exciting, having lived part of it [Route 66],” Smith reminisced. “My father passed away, and we moved to a farm between Clinton and Weatherford, and that’s where I had my memories of Route 66; it went right by our house.

I remember it passing by so well, and I remember when they were building the interstate. I remember riding my bike down the hill where the drive-in theater is now in Weatherford.”

In 2002, a very large artifact arrived at the museum — one of the iconic Valentine diners manufactured in Wichita, Kansas, from the 1930s into the mid-’70s. It had been opened as the Porter House Cafe in 1956 in Shamrock, Texas, operated until 1964, and then moved to the Porter’s backyard for some 30-plus years.

“It was in their yard. A friend got it and brought it here, and my husband and another friend completely restored it. It is so cute [now]. It was in horrible shape, and they completely restored it and found original artifacts to put back in it like a shake mixer,” said Smith.

A miniature “highway” leads past decade-themed exhibits.

In June 2007, the museum’s reputation enabled the City of Clinton to attract the International Route 66 Festival, a weekend of cars, speeches, and awards gathering somewhere around 8,000 people, including familiar names like Michael Wallis, the late Bob Waldmire, the Road Crew Band, artist Jerry McClanahan, and many others.

Five years later, in 2012, the museum closed for exhibit renovations before reopening with a grand ceremony and festivities. Grants were applied for to update the galleries, but the awarded amount fell short of what was needed. “So, we were [just] going to redo the first room and the last room, but the people here in Clinton raised $389,000 in funds to match. This community is very supportive of us and that’s how we redid the [whole] museum,” Smith explained. The renovated exhibits offered visitors the experience of a chronological journey all along the Mother Road through its notable eras: the drought and despair of the Dust Bowl; the raucous sounds of the big army trucks and the Big Bands of the ‘40s; the murmur and clatter of a classic diner; and the exhilaration of the open road through the vacation-centric 1950s. It was undeniably a grand reopening deserving of a celebration.

Pat Smith and her museum staff also planned extensively for a 25th anniversary event in 2020, but suddenly, the event had to be canceled, as the museum — along with every other cultural edifice across the country — needed to figure out

how to survive. “I had a huge event planned for 2020 — it was the 25th anniversary of the museum. Jerry McClanahan was going to be here, and Michael Wallis was my lead speaker. I had everybody working together, and then the pandemic hit,” Smith recalled ruefully.

Into the Future

But as the largest museum dedicated to the history and culture of Route 66 has reopened, Smith is still there telling its story to visitors from around the world. “If you’re really into the history of Route 66, this one is dedicated to telling the complete story of the road.”

Smith is excited to see international visitors returning as she and her staff welcome Route 66 travelers back to take a miniaturized version of a Mother Road trip through the museum’s exhibits.

Pat Smith’s journey from Mother Road-side farm to Route 66 museum wasn’t very long in actual miles, but it was worldwide in impact — both on her and on her thousands of guests at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. The trail that she’s spent her life on is undeniably one of the most important paths anywhere — Route 66 — and it’s the one that she’s spent decades promoting. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Route 66 Museum neon sign proudly lights up the night as the sun lowers below the trees.

Image by Efren Lopez/Route66Images.

A DYING

Photograph by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

By the 1920s, filling station chains dotted the lengths of American roadways. From the Whiting Brothers stations in the Southwest to the ubiquitous Phillips 66 locations across America, familiar brands promised quality products and good service. But fifty years on, those chains were bypassed or out of favor compared to modern travel stops with mini-markets and fast food. Many iconic examples of historic station architecture are now long gone, such as the Phillips 66 cottages, designed to blend into residential areas, of which fewer than 100 stations out of their original 500 still exist.

Most of the remaining tiny buildings no longer function as originally built, but serve as visitor centers, gift shops, cafes, or other adaptive reuse. But particularly for the easily recognizable Phillips 66 buildings, that Tudor cottage style can’t deny its roots, no matter what business it now holds.

Cuba, Missouri — known as the Mural City — is one of those small Route 66 towns that seems to have everything. Nearly two dozen murals decorate walls all over the city. One of the most iconic restored Route 66-era motor courts — Wagon Wheel Motel — sits along its stretch of the Mother Road. And still perched at the crossroads of Route 66 and Highway 19 is the former Paul T. Carr Phillips Petroleum Company filling station. As a destination, Cuba is a town that celebrates its Mother Road heritage.

“He [Carr] opened it in 1932 with about $18,000 that he borrowed,” said Patrick Weir, owner of Weir on 66, the restaurant that currently resides in the building. “He [also] had a Pontiac dealership there. He gave a lot of [work] opportunities to people, especially young people, in town. It brings a lot of that classic Americana flavor to the area.”

After Carr’s death in 1964, the building was purchased in 1968 by Bill and Lynn Wallis, who founded Wallis Oil Company. They turned Carr’s station into their first Mobil station and company office before moving to a large, modern, brick building across the street to house the company that now employs over 600 people.

“It was their headquarters until they eventually outgrew it,” said Weir. “They moved across the street and turned it

[the station] into a bakery. It provided all the sandwiches and baked goods for their stations, but they didn’t do much to it. It still looked like a gas station. They just put a donut maker in there and called it a day.”

But after a good run as the Washington Street Bakery, supplying all of the Wallis stations with fresh-baked pastries, the building began to fall into disrepair, and for a few years sat vacant. In 2001, Bill Wallis lost his battle with cancer, and soon after, his widow, Lynn, conceived the idea of restoring the Carr-Wallis service station to its original glory in honor of her husband and the history of the station. With funding from a Route 66 preservation grant and input from the Phillips 66 organization, the Wallis family restored the building’s exterior in 2005, using the Phillips color scheme of green, yellow, and red with tri-color roof shingles. Murals were added to the garage bays in 2007.

The old station saw more new life when former St. Louis restaurant cook Joanie Weir, along with her kids, Sam and Haley DeClue, opened The FourWay Restaurant in 2016, serving dishes with Mediterranean flair.

“My sister wanted to make it into a restaurant,” said Patrick Weir, Joanie’s brother. “I helped her gut the place. Now it’s got this open kitchen, but it feels homey. You kind of feel like you’re walking back in time a little bit, with the pictures, some artifacts, the tables and chairs.”

Route 66 travelers found the FourWay a convenient place to stop and eat for nearly five years, until December 2020, when the doors were shuttered in response to the lack of international travel. But soon after, Patrick Weir himself, along with his brother, Danny, and sister, Joanie, decided to take on another restaurant in the station.

“It’s kind of an iconic building for Cuba, and we respect it,” Weir said. “I was worried about some of the modifications that I wanted to do, but I think it’ll just be carrying on the tradition. I’m honored to be a proprietor of that.”

After nine decades, Paul T. Carr’s station has a rich history, but its story isn’t over. Besides its many years of providing fuel or food, it still offers the welcoming atmosphere of a familiar roadside gas station — and the promise of more good years to come.

HORSEPOWERED HEARTBEAT

Remember when driving was a joy? Back when you drove to escape, to feel that rush of freedom, or to connect with the person across that bucket seat from you. You’d share a smile when that one song came on; the stereo would get turned up, and windows would get rolled down. You can recapture that moment—or find it for the first time—on Route 66. Feel that horsepowered heartbeat that you’ve been missing in America’s Heartland.

Take the Scenic Route: VisitLebanonMo.org

WHERE THE MOTHER ROAD BEGINS

Route 66 defined a remarkable era in our nation’s history – and it lives on today in Illinois’ Route 66’s many roadside attractions, museums, and restaurants –it’s the shining ribbon of blacktop we call ‘The Mother Road’.

SOME TIME

Start planning your trip now at www.illinoisroute66.org. Request a visitor’s guide by emailing info@illinoisroute66.org and make sure to check out our mobile app by searching for ‘Explore Illinois Route 66’ in the App Store and Google Play, to help with all of your Route 66 Illinois planning.

Tel: (217)-414-9331 • www.illinoisroute66.org

GRAYSTONE

GRAYSTONE HEIGHTS

By Michael Rogers

Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

long a section of old Route 66 known to Mother Road aficionados as “The Ghost Stretch,” near what was once Plano, Missouri, a red-and-blue neon sign beckons travelers to “Modern Cabins.” The area, west of Springfield, is home to a number of ruins and sites of long-gone towns from the highway’s heyday, hence the affectionate, if spooky, nickname.

The comfort promised by the “Modern Cabins” sign is a welcome sight for the weary tourists cruising along the old road, but alas, the colorful, inviting sign is merely a reminder of accommodations that once were but disappeared around 1961, when Interstate 44 opened and bypassed Route 66 and the town.

Hopeful Beginnings

Although precious little is known today about the history of the property, we do know that the Graystone Heights Modern Cabins opened around 1935 under the ownership of Margaret White Brewer. She and her husband, Ben Brewer, purchased two and a half acres of land in 1931 to construct a tourist court. Using native Missouri “giraffe stone,” they erected a building that housed a restaurant and gas station, a restroom and shower building, and four cabins containing two rooms each, with two-car garages between them. The garages were a popular feature at a number of motor courts of the era, providing security for open and unlocked vehicles, as well as privacy and weather protection for guests, as you could directly enter and exit the rooms from the garage.

Eventually, a private bathroom would be added to each room, and later, one of the garages was converted to a suite, making a total of nine rooms available for lodging. In 1936, after some battling between the families, Margaret became the sole owner when the Brewers divorced. She then changed her name to Margaret Brewer White, and continued to run the thriving business. After twenty-five years of a steady stream of customers, the diversion of most traffic to the Interstate spelled the end of good times for the cabins. The motel closed and the building sat silent, slowly deteriorating as the years went by.

Change is Inevitable

In 1963, Russell and Betty Schweke purchased the distressed property from the court for their expanding R & S Floral store and warehouse, a business that they enthusiastically started in 1958. Russell discovered a notice in a local newspaper announcing the sale of the property on the courtroom steps. Quick to respond to the potential opportunity, he headed to the auction and purchased the property for five thousand dollars. The Schweke family has run R & S at the location ever since, with their son John taking over the business operation in 2007.

ANew Blood, New Energy

John inherited the entrepreneurial spirit from his ancestors. His grandfather bought businesses in the Springfield area during the Depression and sold them at a profit. His father, after a stint in the Marine Corps, came back to Springfield and was made the vicepresident of a soft goods company that his grandfather owned nearly half of. He became a successful soft goods wholesale salesman for the company, then later opened his own retail outlets, and then several dime stores in the region, before he went into the floral business. He believed that he could personally create floral baskets and arrangements for his stores at a better price than he could purchase them pre-made. This idea was so successful that he made the floral business his main focus.

John Schweke was born and raised in nearby Springfield, and as a child, spent one or two days a week at what was then his father’s floral business. Although the property still had the outward appearance of an old-fashioned motor court, the old motel cabins and other buildings were now used as storage and work areas for the creation of the floral arrangements that R & S built its reputation on.

The company was focused on wholesaling flower arrangements for a variety of occasions to local dime stores and other regional shops, and business was good. However, as time went on, larger retailers like Walmart began forcing many of those smaller shops out of business, and the wholesale market for R & S arrangements began to shrink.

“I had an agreement with my father that if I worked for him, and made very little money, that I would own the property when he died,” says John. “After every year, as he was getting older and older, I’d say, ‘Pop, is it time for me to own the property yet?’ and he’d say, ‘No, I’m not going to die yet.’ Well, I had a friend who was a probate lawyer and we went to see him in 2007. My father told him that he wanted me to have the property when he died, and the lawyer told him that he’d seen a lot of strange things happen when people die, so if he wanted me to have it, maybe he should just give it to me then. He said, ‘Okay’ and we drew up the papers, and that was it.” Russell then retired and John took over the reins.

The business then evolved into R & S Memorial Decorations under John’s direction, and now focused on retail sales of memorial and funeral floral arrangements rather than the wholesale general market that was the bulk of his father’s market. In order to further expand his customer coverage, John opened a number of pop-up stores each year in Southwest Missouri, Northwest Arkansas,

and Southeast Kansas as Memorial Day approached. This practice continues today.

It’s been a good plan, because business has remained strong through the years.

“I equate it to some people going to McDonald’s for hamburgers, and some people going to get upper end hamburgers,” said John. “We sell upper end Memorial Day decorations, and my business really only takes in money for about six weeks out of the year. Some people will drive two or three hours to come to our warehouse to shop. My arrangements don’t look like what they sell at Walmart or Dollar General, my arrangements are more upscale.”

Celebrating the Past

After taking over the business from his father and refocusing on the memorial arrangements, John also began to think a bit more about the importance of preserving the history of the location. During the early days of R & S, the building structures remained in basically sound condition, and no efforts were made to restore them to their former glory, as they served Russell’s purposes for storage and work areas without any additional investment.

However, two events proved to be catalysts for the process of beginning the renovations. The first was when a Canadian news crew came by to do a story about the area and took pictures of his buildings, describing them as being run down and going further downhill.

“It didn’t make me feel great, but they were being honest,” John said. “I looked at the pictures, and it didn’t look very good.” Shortly thereafter, the second incident occurred while watching the Pixar movie Cars. “My grandson was sitting with me, and the story shows that Route 66 had all these wonderful businesses and properties, and now they were all becoming dilapidated. I put my arm around my grandson and said, ‘You know, I have a dilapidated property like that on Route 66, too’, and I just woke up the next day and realized that we could help fix the problem. And we have.”

Tired of watching so many old buildings and businesses decay and disappear along the historic highway, John and his wife Alexa decided to start their effort to revitalize their property and preserve their own little piece of antiquity.

John handed a can of black paint and a brush to one of the workers at R & S and told him to start painting the grout lines between the white limestone rocks that make up the outsides of the buildings in order to bring

John Schweke stands near his restored “Modern Cabins’ sign.

The Schwekes couldn’t find many photos, beyond a few postcards, of the old Graystone Heights Modern Cabins to provide an accurate depiction of the premises during its heyday as a motel to work from in their restoration efforts, and local residents who possibly could remember the motor court’s precise appearance during its prime have become fewer and fewer. The only real history that John has been able to obtain about the motor court’s earlier days comes from the property title, and from the Missouri Route 66 Association itself. So, while they strive to recreate the overall style and representation of the era, a perfect restoration simply is not possible.

back the “giraffe stone” look. Although the man wasn’t enthusiastic about doing the project to begin with, he almost immediately changed his mind when he saw how good the new look was, and he eagerly finished the job. Then it was on to replacing the rotting plywood floors in the buildings, putting in hot running water, and other tasks to update and upgrade the condition of the property. John even added some non-functioning 1960s-era gas pumps out in front that he purchased at a flea market to add to the atmosphere and pay homage to the earlier filling station that once stood there.

Eventually, John and Alexa joined the Missouri Route 66 Association to further encourage the preservation and promotion of Route 66 landmarks.

“We went to our first meeting there, and I didn’t know what to expect. I brought a couple of books along that our property was in, and said, ‘Hey guys, I own this.’ Bob Gehl, their neon preservation guy, said, ‘I can get you money to get your sign fixed.’”

Gehl was referring to possible restoration of the “Modern Cabins” neon sign that still stood in deteriorating condition outside of R & S. The group informed the enthusiastic couple that money was available through the National Park Service for such historic refurbishments. John decided that the restoration project was a good idea, but rather than using federal money and being forced to deal with the paperwork and red tape that comes along with it, he would use his own money to finance the venture. He started researching what it would take to restore the sign to its former appearance, found a company to do the work, and after about a year and a half, the work was complete. On September 13, 2014, R & S held a lighting ceremony for the renewed neon, and attracted nearly six hundred people for the event. At that point, in recognition of their efforts to preserve the past, the location attained official Greene County Historic Landmark status.

Old is Gold

The Modern Cabins became something of a popular honeymoon spot back in earlier days, possibly owing to the privacy offered by being able to enter the rooms from inside the garages. John tells the story of a woman who stopped by some time ago and told him that she had spent her honeymoon there. “When I asked her what she remembered of the place, she said, ‘Well, for dinner, we paid twenty-five cents for two Dr. Peppers and two Hershey bars, and we paid twenty-five cents to listen to the radio.’ Then I asked her if she could tell me anything about the rooms inside, and she said, ‘I don’t know, son, I was busy. It was my honeymoon,’ and I just started laughing. Actually, a lot of people from Springfield would spend their honeymoons out here, because this was way out in the country then.”

Today’s travelers often stop to take photographs and look around the property, despite it being an ongoing business. Not realizing that the location is no longer a motel, some even ask if they can rent the cabins for the night, as they can at some other historic motor courts in the area.

The efforts of the Schweke family and the R & S employees have been commendable, and a precious piece of the area’s history has been preserved for future generations. The Schwekes have put up signs recounting some of the history of the property for visitors, and John personally welcomes many of them as his time permits.

“It makes me feel proud and happy. I really was pretty embarrassed about the way it looked in the past, but now I’m very proud of it. I think it’s neat. They’re not going to make any more of these, and there are very few of them [left]. It’s very important to me to preserve this property, and to get it to where people see it, and say, ‘Wow, this is pretty cool.’”

Most visitors would agree that the Schweke family has already surpassed that goal.

An evening view reveals the cabins’ restoration.

“Can’t talk now. Have a big stop to make.”

CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE. GET TO PULASKI COUNTY, MO!

Ready for a road trip of breathtaking twists and turns that will take you back in time? Take your pick of drives down Route 66, through historic Fort Leonard Wood, and along the Frisco Railroad line. Enjoy fun roadside stops, then fill up at unique diners before heading off to uncover even more rare finds at countless antique shops. Book your stay and get ready to play on a road you’ll always remember.

Plan your trip, complete with downloadable turn-by-turn directions, at pulaskicountyusa.com.

Legends and Lanterns

It’s Saturday, October 15th, 11:30AM, on historic Main Street in St. Charles, Missouri. On any other Saturday, you’d find shop owners opening their doors for business — or, more likely, having already had their doors open for several hours. It is almost noon, after all. You’d find some people window-shopping on the sidewalk of one of the quaintest Main Streets in Missouri and others enjoying a treat from one of the many tasty eateries. In those respects, today is no different. However, on this warm morning the shoppers are joined by a cluster of costumed performers and imaginative exhibits to celebrate the season of Halloween and commemorate the first day of Legends & Lanterns, an annual celebration that is the envy of many towns and a key draw to the historic district of St. Charles. Halloween has been a beloved season in America since 1921, when the nation’s first citywide celebrations took place in Anoka, Minnesota. However, the gregarious town of St. Charles just loves it a little more than most!

Initially conceived by the Convention & Visitors Bureau as an effort to attract visitors on the weekends leading up to Halloween, Legends & Lanterns has quickly become an October staple of the city. Started in 2016 by Special Event Producer Ryan Cooper, this festival is a thriving pageant that celebrates everything from Halloween’s origins to the theatrics of dressing up, telling ghost stories, and appreciating the aesthetics we associate with the season in a family-friendly environment.

The street performers sprinkled throughout Main Street are some of the event’s star attractions. Characters range from historical figures like Edgar Allen Poe to mythological characters like Medusa and Stingy Jack. Not familiar with Stingy Jack? Well, there’s no need to haul out your compendium of Irish and Celtic mythology. The actors aren’t just performing bit parts — they are bona fide experts in whichever character they perform. “We usually audition at the end of May,” said Cooper, “There’s no script. No instructions on where to move. How to move. We’re an improv street performance festival.”

The festival merges a collection of both entertaining and informative events. Best of all, it is predominantly free of charge. For instance, kids can go to La Plaza del Dia de Los

Muertos and get their faces painted while they learn about the cultural facets of the Day of the Dead.

On the flip side of Spanish traditions of Halloween, there are also Victorian traditions for celebrating the dear departed. Visitors taking a stroll through Frontier Park who enter the Historic Katy Depot will step foot into the Victorian Mourning Museum. There, they will find a collection of Victorian obsequies, such as tear vials, hair wreaths, and post-mortem photography of the recently deceased. There is a section dedicated to fashion, too; visitors will learn how they might dress depending on their relation to the dead, as well as general etiquette and the historical practices before the advent of funeral parlors. This venue is considerably more structured for informing, which was a deliberate choice on Cooper’s part. “The characters on the sidewalk are the foundation, but I wanted the event to have layers. More of an exhibit or a museum. It’s fun to watch people leave at the end of the day and say, ‘Wow, I never knew about that.’”

This just scratches the surface of what happens at the festival. There are also live musical performances, horse-drawn hayrides, and a scarecrow competition. There’s even another attraction in Katy Depot called the Tinseltown Terrors. The depot is modified into an old-time movie house and projects trailers and movie clips from B-movies and monster movies from the 1930s and ‘50s. It is bound to be a nostalgic experience for some and an eye-opening experience for others.

However, none of these events could exist if it weren’t for the contributions of the event committees and the Halloweenloving volunteers and performers. In 2017, they had 20 performers. This year, 60 individuals will be divided into onstage actors and behind-the-scenes organizers. This is a point of pride for Cooper. “Having those who attend who don’t consider themselves Halloween people and showing them the fun of the holiday and changing their mind is one of the best feelings of organizing this event.”

So, whether Halloween is your cup of tea or not, this month, pay the friendly town of St. Charles a visit to soak in the history and culture surrounding one of the country’s most colorful holidays.

Image by Mary Van Winkle.

QUIRK

By Nick Gerlich

Photograph by Efren Lopez/Route66Images

There is perhaps no more important a town along Route 66 in the modern era than Seligman, Arizona. It is here that the rebirth of a road, and in fact the birth of a movement, happened back in 1987, when Angel Delgadillo, affectionately known as the Father of the Mother Road, campaigned for Historic Route 66 signage in his home state, and together with a few other key local families, founded the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona.

Just like how the lights went out in 1978 when I-40 bypassed Seligman, the lights were suddenly back on. And the tourists did come — in cars, on motorcycles, and by the busload.

One of the more popular establishments along this stretch of 66 — and there are many kooky stops in town — is Historic Seligman Sundries, housed in one of the oldest commercial buildings in town, which dates back to 1904. The building has housed many enterprises throughout the years, beginning life as the Pioneer Hall and Theatre, then Ted’s Fountain & Trading Post in 1930, a short-term hospital during the pandemic of 1918, and later Seligman Sundries.

Ted’s was renowned for a variety of goods, from Navajo rugs to curios, baskets, and jewelry, as well as its famous malts. By the early 1960s when it was finally Seligman Sundries, it continued serving up delicious malts, but had also diversified into veterinary supplies and served as the local Greyhound bus station.

It was in 2005, though, that the popular stopover as we know it today began to take shape. Frank and Lynn Kocevar bought the vacant structure from the former proprietor, Lupe Muñoz, and began the time-consuming task of renovation. Muñoz, who was by then elderly, had begun the slow process of retiring several years before by only opening a couple of days a week.

The business had become too hard for her to maintain, yet she clung to it valiantly. Muñoz finally shuttered it a couple of years prior, but refused to sell to anyone from town or even California. When the Kocevars, who had moved to Seligman in 2003 from Phoenix, approached her, she finally acquiesced and handed over the reins. “It was a time capsule,” Frank said, but the building, which had long been aging in the arid high desert, desperately needed repair.

The Kocevars painstakingly cleared the interior, and in the process uncovered a large array of antiques and vintage advertising pieces. These were used prominently in the decor. Repairs were made to the two-story, wood-sided building, and it was then painted a bright turquoise with yellow signage. Upgrades to heating, air conditioning, and plumbing were also done.

“The building was a treasure trove of artifacts,” Frank recalled. “There were unopened boxes of merchandise. It was as if Ms. Muñoz just slowly faded away and left everything in place.”

Interestingly, Seligman Sundries’ calling card now, especially among diehard java fans, is a gourmet coffee shop, which was added in 2007. But it is the original soda fountain that the Kocevars loved most, and they made sure to keep it as close to the original condition as possible. Gifts and jewelry rounded out the assortment, along with a small museum.

By September 2014, though, the Kocevars were ready to take a step back and enjoy the slower pace of life found in Seligman. Upon reflecting on their decade in business, they decided that it was time for some new blood to take over, and they sold Seligman Sundries to Thomas Muetzel and Ursula “Uschi” Fuchs, who had already established themselves as regular customers.

Muetzel, a German by birth, has been in the U.S. for more than 20 years, and Fuchs, a Swiss national, has been here for more than 40 years. The pair had led motorcycle and bus tour groups for many years, when Fuchs introduced Muetzel to the Seligman Sundries on one of their journeys. He fell in love with the place, and it sparked an interest in taking over the reins.

The two had already grown weary of their traveling life and were eager to find something new. Flagstaff, their permanent home at the time, was not far away, and they could envision themselves as proprietors. “I saw the buses and the espresso and thought that this could be a good change in life,” said Thomas. “I told them that if they ever wanted to sell, to let Uschi and me know. On my next tour a couple of weeks later, they told us they would sell. We met, agreed on a price, and resigned from the tour company.”

The couple then set to putting their own spin on the shop. “We did our own thing,” he continued. “We gave it a new touch. We rearranged things, bought new merchandise, and added t-shirts of our own design.” They experienced six years of consecutive annual growth in sales, but the pandemic brought that to a halt. “We opened again this March and are enthusiastic and hopeful.” The couple sold their house in Flagstaff, and now temporarily reside at a nearby campground in their RV.

Today when tourists stop in Seligman, be it a lone traveler or 40 folks traveling on a deluxe tour bus, they quickly discover that the historic town is best experienced on foot. The commercial district, if it can be called that, is only a few blocks long. It is thus quite the norm for eight months each year to see flocks of out-of-state cars, motorcycles, and a steady stream of buses descending upon the little town. In fact, it is easy to comprehend how Seligman’s current population of 764 easily doubles each day during the height of tourist season.

Muetzel and Fuchs, though, are now beginning to think like the Kocevars. “We are both of a progressed age. I like this place, and enjoy working there, but we have retirement plans. It is a lot of work during the season. There is a plan to sell. If people are interested, they can contact us,” noted Thomas. It’s a turnkey operation at this point, waiting for the next generation of owners to keep Seligman Sundries alive.

Both the shop and the town itself are reminders of rebirth. Just as Delgadillo was instrumental in putting 66 back on the map, the Kocevars, and now Thomas and Uschi, have each played a critical role in preserving what was originally the first commercial business in Seligman.

And in large part, all of those cars, motorcycles, and buses stopping every day during tourist season are the results of their efforts.

PLACE OF MYSTERY

It has often been said that Route 66 is representative of the country as a whole. While a romanticized highway, America’s Main Street is in many ways a beautiful example of what is occurring across the nation: the good and the bad. It has always been that way. Today, we are left with tales of murder and mystery that, while less promoted when discussing Route 66, are still a part of the spice of a journey into the country’s fascinating past.

Perhaps the best example of this are the 1967 murders at Budville, a tiny burg in western New Mexico. “As far as I know, it is still an unsolved murder,” said Jim Hinckley, author of Murder and Mayhem On The Main Street Of America

The abandoned service station with its shards of neon dangling in the breeze, provides set dressing for one of the most infamous cases on the Mother Road. The forlorn trading post has become one of the most popular photo stops in this part of the state; the building and sign have been frozen in time for decades. Modern-day visitors wait for ghostly whispers to provide clues, but the trail of the perpetrator(s) has long grown cold, no one the smarter today.

It all went down on November 18 that year, the night that Budville earned its nickname “Bloodville.” But first, a little back story.

Budville is located on the Mother Road about 50 miles west of Albuquerque, and more specifically in between Paraje and Cubero. Just beyond where the road curves north is where Howard Neal “Bud” Rice and his wife, Flossie, had opened his eponymously named service station in 1928. Bud, who could put on a friendly veneer when he needed to, was also rather ruthless and cunning as a businessman. What started as gasoline and basic auto repairs evolved into trading post, grocery, wrecking service, bus station, and even cabins that provided lodging for nearby migrant workers.

So well-known was Bud that the surrounding community came to be known as Budville, in spite of the fact that he ruled the area with an iron fist. As Justice of the Peace in these parts, he levied exorbitant speeding fines. And as the only tow truck operator between the Rio Puerco and Grants, he could demand equally outrageous towing fees.

In 1939, he was convicted of assault, but three years later received a full pardon from the Governor. So powerful was

this man that Bud convinced highway officials to put an exit along the then-new I-40 within sight of his station.

The sun had already set that late autumn day, one that was rather mild by New Mexico standards. Bud was preparing to close for the evening when a customer walked in waving a gun. Also in the shop were Flossie, 82-year-old part-time employee Blanche Brown, and another unnamed employee. The man demanded all of the day’s receipts, which tallied $450. While no one knows with certainty what happened, Flossie reportedly ran screaming, the other employee took refuge in the bathroom, and Bud and Blanche lay dead on the floor in pools of their own blood.

A few minutes later, a Continental Trailways bus arrived, whose driver saw an old pickup truck leave the scene of the crime at high speed. Darkness precluded him from seeing a license plate number, but he did recall it having only one working tail light.

Police later arrested a sailor, Larry Bunten, under suspicion of the murders, but he was able to establish that he was nowhere near Budville at that time. He was subsequently released, even though Flossie identified him as the assailant.

Progress on the case, which went stale for many months, then pivoted. “The best candidate they had for committing this crime was a fellow named Billy Ray White,” Hinckley continued. “There were three men arrested in Albuquerque a few years later, and they offered details about the Budville murders. They fingered a compadre of theirs who was involved with them in a lot of crimes: Billy White.”

White was subsequently let go because there was not enough evidence to convict him, in spite of a later sentencing for a very similar robbery and murder in Louisiana. Meanwhile, Flossie had married Philip Atkinson, who was ironically gunned down in 1973 mere feet from where Bud had laid dying.

White then died of his own hand in 1974, after he supposedly confessed to another inmate that he did indeed commit the Budville murders. Flossie remarried again, and passed away in 1994, putting an end to the chilling tale of that fateful November night.

And, unfortunately, the truth went to the graves with all of them. Today, the trading post sits empty, a silent reminder of an event that occurred long ago.

Illustration by Chandler O’Leary. Words by Nick Gerich.

IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE YOU’D RATHER BE.

You don’t come to Death Valley because abundant life flourishes here. Which is exactly why a four-diamond resort in the middle of it is so special. Join us to experience two unique hotels in one amazing location: North America’s only authentic desert oasis. Learn more and book at OasisAtDeathValley.com

A CONVERSATION WITH

James Caan

By Brennen Matthews Photographs by Iconic Images

This is not the intro that I envisioned writing for this conversation. I expected to speak about James Caan’s iconic stature in film — he’s done over 130 films and been a soughtafter star for much of his fabled career. He’s worked with many of the biggest names in entertainment — at their request — yet has a personal journey that many will relate to. His humble beginnings and “average Joe” attitude and outlook on life had always allowed audiences to root for him. James and I started this conversation back in 2021, but I sensed that there was still more to his story than what we had managed to dive into that lovely afternoon together, so we planned to reconnect later and continue our discussion. Neither of us could have known that that was the last time we would speak. Sadly, James Caan passed away unexpectedly on July 6, 2022. This conversation is also a tribute to the man, father, actor, friend, and the larger than life individual that was James Caan.

I will remember him as being funny and sarcastic, at times uncomfortably straightforward, and always respectful. He was, without a doubt, one of the last great leading men in Hollywood.

career. (Laughs) After that, I started to go to work with my pop down at the market.

What did your dad have you doing at the meat markets?

My dad was a butcher and serviced restaurants in Manhattan, so he’d go pick up the meat, he’d go deliver the meat, and take the orders. I don’t know how many restaurants he had, maybe ten. And then my uncle, who had a big freezer down there, put me to work. My job was unloading hindquarters of beef from like 4:30 in the morning right out by the Hudson River. I knew that I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. It was brutal, taking them out of those freezer trucks and carrying them into the freezer to get warm, by the way, they were warm at 32, so I knew that wasn’t it for me.

When did it connect for you that you wanted to be an actor?

Looking back, I really enjoyed making people laugh. I liked to be a clown and make them laugh. I don’t know if that has something to do with it or not, but it’s a performance, anyway, and I enjoyed it. I think deep down inside we all have these horrible things inside of us that make us feel rotten and I like to kinda conjure them out of there. I loved hanging out, I liked people. As far as acting is concerned, I did a play, a showman’s play, when I was about 15 or 16, and I kind of liked it.

Well, I grew up in a neighborhood that wasn’t very conducive to the arts. Sunnyside is particularly clean, but there are not too many singers and dancers or whatnot. So, I played a lot of ball, you know. Other than that, it was just going to the movies, sneaking into the movies on a Saturday. One guy would open the back door and we’d all sneak into the matinees, all that stuff. A lot of fighting and a lot of growing up in a real New York neighborhood. It was kind of great.

I went to P.S. 150 [Queens], where I remained a terror for a while, then I left, went out to Jackson Heights, and into a school called Rhodes [Preparatory School] in New York. It’s on 54th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. But I became the student body president as a sophomore.

I had my gang already stuffing mailboxes and then I played baseball and basketball for them, and then I went to Michigan State when I was 16. Now, most people think that’s because I was smart, but that is not the case at all. I was not smart. I mean, I wasn’t dumb, but I wasn’t smart. They wanted me out of there. [Rhodes Preparatory School] wanted me out. I was a little too much trouble. So, I went [to Michigan State] and lied about my age. I got homesick — I missed my girlfriend — so I transferred out of there to go to Hofstra College at 18.

Great school. What did you study?

I didn’t know what I wanted; I changed my major every three minutes. Hofstra was an ROTC [Reserve Officer’s Training Corps] school, so Tuesdays and Thursdays you had to get the uniform on, I was a 2nd lieutenant. About two weeks before graduation I was on my way to class in my uniform, looking spiffy, but I didn’t have my name tag on one day. I was stopped and asked, “Soldier, where’s your name tag?” I didn’t know, I had lost it or something. I said, “You have got to be kidding me!” Suddenly I was in a fist fight with two of them and that was the end of my ROTC

One day I stopped at the Neighborhood Playhouse [School of the Theatre] and just decided, “Let me try this.” And you had to have three separate readings over the course of a year. One in September, one in December, and one later in June or whatever, and then you’d find out if you got admitted or not. They take 30 boys and girls a year from across the country.

I walked in there about ten days before school started and said, “I’d like to go here.” And they said, “Next year?” “No, no, I mean now.” It’s ten days before school starts. “Well, we’re filled up for this date.” And I said, “Well, do you mind if I just sit outside your door?” He said, “What for?” “Well, if somebody’s late or if they leave early you know, I’ll just pop my head inside and be done with it.” So, I did that, and after about twenty minutes, someone was late, so I walked in, and Mr. Pressman — the head of the school — I went in with him and we had a great time, and he took me right away. He said, ‘this guy must be nuts,’ and he liked that, so he accepted my application.

What was your father’s reaction to you heading in the performing arts direction?

I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell my father. So, I was going to work with him [the next day], I’m in the truck and everything, and I said, “Hey pop, pull over here.” We were in front of a ballet school. He asked me what I needed to get for school. I needed to get leotards, the belt and slippers… the whole thing. They handed it to me in a plastic bag with a button on it. I looked at it and asked, “Do you have a brown bag?” So, I went back to the truck and my dad asked me what’s in the bag. I said, “Dad, it’s something for school. It’s nothing.” “I’m gonna ask you again, what’s in the bag?” I showed him and he never said a word all the way home. He just whistled. (Laughs)

My dad had to pay the $800 for the tuition and he used to tell me, “C’mon, do that little thing where you turn around,

You are New York born and bred and got into theater before finding your way onto the Big Screen. What was your journey into the arts like?

the pirouette, whatever you call that, show me what cost me $800.” (Laughs)

I was at the playhouse for one year.

At that point, were you still living at home?

Yeah, for a while, and then I got married real quick, and I got this off-Broadway show. That was right after I finished [school]. I lived on 67th Street in a very fancy building, but we only had an “L” apartment, you know, one of those little L’s. The doormen, they’d say, “Hello Mr. Caan and Mrs. Caan.” It was great, $69 or something like that. I went to the pool room and played poker on Friday nights, and I had this offBroadway show that I did for about 8-9 months, which got me $45 a week; $38.50 take home. I had a good poker game, and we did okay. My wife was a lead dancer for the Mitch Miller show, so we lived pretty good.

You went on to do an episode, “And the Cat Jumped Over the Moon,” on the TV show Route 66 on CBS.

At the time there were three television shows that hit New York; there was Naked City, and then Route 66 when they came east, and Playhouse 90 or Play of the Week as it was called.

On Route 66, my co-star was Martin Sheen. He played opposite — I was a gang member, I was the leader of the gang, and we used to have these, you know, where you pass the exam to get into the gang? We used to hang out in Philadelphia; we were on the twenty-fourth story of the telephone company building and hanging on a post with one arm on the outside of a step, and I was holding his arm in my [hand], that was scary. I did that, I wouldn’t have done that if there weren’t any girls, but there were girls around there, so I did it. (Laughs)

What was it like being on television for the first time?

Well, I mean, the Playhouse 90… it was live, we literally did it live, and that was a little frightening, but we did it. The other was just like a film, so we weren’t really being seen until they were ready to show you, but the live show, you better be ready, it was amazing. Pretty scary, though.

Your first film was Lady in a Cage in 1964 with Olivia de Havilland. You were 23. Then you went on to star in El Dorado in 1966 with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. What was it like working with such legends?

I had to get lifts about this high to stand between those two guys. It was pretty wild. I mean, I just became a ball buster like they did. I had a lot of fun. I have fun when I work, usually.

Another big movie for you was The Godfather in 1972 where you played Sonny Corleone in an Academy Award–nominated performance. When you first got the part, was there any sense at that point that The Godfather was going to be such an iconic movie?

I don’t think to that degree, no. But I did know that it was gonna be a good movie, because Francis [Ford Coppola] was great. Francis was not a Brooklyn Italian; he was a

Mediterranean Italian. His father was a lead florist for Tuscany, and he knew about wine and music, everything was for the sake of family. You know what I mean? Right away Francis got me and Bobby [Duvall], [but he wanted Marlon] Brando, too. The studio said, “if you mention Brando’s name again, you’re fired,” but Francis insisted on him. But he had a problem with Al [Pacino] for a while.

What was the problem with Pacino?

Well, Al was a little self-destructive and he had his idea of how he wanted to play it, you know? And then they tested me, they wanted me to play Michael, but I knew Francis — he was my friend — and he wanted Al to be the Italian looking version of Michael, and Sonny the Americanized version of him. Little fairer there, a little bigger… and so Al came in like that. When they tested, Francis called me one night, he was in New York preparing, he called me and he said, “Jimmy,” it was like 12AM, had to be like 2-3:00AM in New York, “They want you to test.” I said, “Test what? They got a Porsche; you

want me to drive around the f*cking block? What are you talking about?” “No, no, they want you to play Michael.” I go, “What?” I knew that wasn’t at all Francis, he knew what he wanted. Mario wrote in the book Making the Godfather, he wrote about doing the test, he said, “If Caan had tits, he’d have played Kay.” (Laughs)

Francis was the best. There’s a lot of great directors that I’ve worked with on 133 movies, but Francis was the most rounded. When he put The Godfather together, he had Gordon Willis, who’s the best cinematographer, he had Walter Murch, the best sound guy, he had Dean Tavoularis, who was the best set decorator, every one of these guys that he picked, they were all the best in the department. But that’s Francis. Francis put that group together. Same with the actors. He was great. I just trusted him so much. I always wanted to work with Martin Scorsese, but I didn’t get to work with him because I was a punk, I was stupid. I just do stupid things. I think they’re funny and they’re stupid. Anyway, but Francis, he studied acting, he studied music, he studied all these things… cinematography. Georgie Lucas

used to come around with a 16 mm camera when I did The Rain People. It was never in doubt that we were in good hands with him.

What was the atmosphere on set like working on The Godfather ?

I mean, here’s what I’ve learned. The best people I’ve worked with, the people I thought were the best actors, the Brandos, the Bobbys, for some reason, they’re always the nicest. It’s the people that haven’t got shit to offer that make themselves, “Oh my hair, my thing, my makeup.” The good ones, you want to be around them because they’re good, you want to be associated with them. We had great actors. That was all Francis, too. We had one or two that were a little iffy, but Francis straightened that out.

Brando would laugh and he thought I was the funniest guy in the world. He would laugh with me all the time. We had a great time. It was serious, but we had a great time. I used to watch Brando. Everyone tried to conquer Brando. All he wanted was to be talked to. That was the simplest thing of all.

Do you remember the first real big-ticket item you bought when you first started making some real money?

I remember buying my parents a brand-new car.

Well, my father, I always told him when I was younger, I’d say, “Someday, I’ll drive a Cadillac down the street here, 44th Street.” I sent him to Florida, [while] I was doing The Gambler ; a man had stolen his car out of the garage in Sunnyside, so I bought him a brand new white Buick with a red pinstripe on it, and put his license plate on it. I found a parking spot, on 68th Street, where my sister lived, and it was right under a streetlight. I picked him up from the airport and went back to my sister’s. After dinner I said, “C’mon, let’s take a walk.” So, we took a walk, and as luck would have it, my father stops and looks at it, you couldn’t help it, this car was shining like you couldn’t believe. Red stripe, maroon interior, and my mother stopped too, and my father walked over and said, “C’mon Sophie.” I said, “What are you doing, Ma?” She said, “Oh that’s a beauty, isn’t it?” “Yeah,” I said, “Sure is.” So, I walked a little ways, and she said, “Wait a minute, you like that car?” “What’s not to like? Of course. You like that car?” I asked. “Yeah!” It was so great. I couldn’t have written it better. I said, “Well, okay.” I reached in my pocket; I gave her the key. She said, “Come on you idiot, stop fooling around.” My father looks, you know, he knows me, he walks to the car, I said, “Put it in the door, Ma.” And they open it, and it was so cool. He squealed away. It was so great. It was the greatest night ever.

Your performance in Michael Mann’s directorial debut Thief (1981) was also quite riveting. The movie is now a cult classic. But after that film, you took a self-imposed sabbatical from Hollywood. What made you decide to step away?

You know, I continued playing ball and doing the things I liked. I think it was right around the time I lost my sister [to Leukemia]. She was like, 38? She had two girls. She was like my best friend. I wasn’t afraid of any living human in the world, okay? Believe me. I mean, they kill me, that’s one thing.

But I was not afraid of them. Except her. She scared the shit out of me. (Laughs)

Were you concerned at all whether stepping away at the height of your career would have a negative impact?

It was just something I had to do. I don’t know. I didn’t think I was stepping away; I had enough faith in myself. I never let anybody down, too much. I mean, people were pleased with most of my performances, the people who I worked for. I wasn’t too big a pain in the ass.

Probably my favorite movie you’ve ever done is Misery (1990) with Kathy Bates. There were some really intense scenes in that movie.

You make everything as real for you as possible, so in the beginning, Kathy, God bless her, she’s great, she loves to rehearse a lot. So, Kathy wants to go outside, and I go, “I don’t want to rehearse.” Rob Reiner (Director) would go, “What?” It’s just me and her, right? “Why?” I said, “What do you mean?” I don’t know if she’s gonna kill me or screw me when she comes in through the door, why would I want to rehearse that? It’s that, don’t tell me what it’s gonna be. I’ll figure it out. Anyway, you got a sort of sense for that, so he would rehearse with her all the time, and she would come in and do, you know, work with me. That’s why, to be as open as possible, I never get ahead of myself. I never allow myself to think of what might happen, what might not. We got along like that, and Rob was good enough to acquiesce. That was, see, I blame Rob. I said, you get the most neurotic guy in Hollywood and put him in bed for fifteen weeks, it’s like [viewers] knew that I wanted out of there so bad every day.

Then you did the movie Elf [2003] with Will Ferrell, which was a departure from the tough guy roles. What drew you to that role?

I get put in those roles, you know, I had quite a few. I did Cinderella Liberty which was really kind of a Billy Budd kinda character, and even The Gambler wasn’t so much of a tough guy role, it was more of a complex guy one.

But Elf, it was so funny. When Will called me, he goes, “Hey Jimmy, I want you to do this picture called Elf with me.” I said “Elf ? I ain’t doing no f*cking picture called Elf Get out of here.” He said, “We’ll have a lot of fun!” So, I looked at it, and it was kind of a fun thing, and I go, “Listen, I’ll tell you what Will, I’ll do it if you put on the title page, if you put a K where the F is. I’ll do Elk , I will not do Elf.” So, he said, “Okay, I’ll put Elk.” But I had a great time with that film. Will’s a really good guy. I had fun. I’d walk around New York City, in the middle of Christmas, too, a 6 foot 4 elf running around, and we’re stealing shots of New York. You know, in New York, nobody gives a shit, that’s normal, some elf walking around. I wish we would’ve done part two, because I wouldn’t have had to work anymore. Paid my hospital bills. (Laughs)

Many people don’t know that you are passionate about rodeo.

I rodeoed for nine years.

Every weekend I was on some route or another, traveling all over. We went as far as Texas, and I did that for nine years. I used to say that there was something about the dirt that made me feel clean. You know, from Hollywood. So, I’d go with my buddy Walter Scott and have a relish sandwich and drive twelve hours, have my horse step on my foot while I saddled him in the morning, it was fun. (Laughs)

What drew you to rodeo, specifically?

I really liked the guys in it. They were real guys, and if they liked you, you knew it, and if they didn’t like you, you knew it right away too. There was that camaraderie, you know, there was only the cowboys.

What was the transition like for you going from Hollywood actor to rodeo?

I could change my personality in a minute. As a matter of fact, I hated when the announcer used to go on, “And now from Beverly Hills,” I went up to him one day and said “Tallman,” his name was Bob Tallman, I said, “Don’t you ever announce me as being from Beverly Hills again. Say Selma, say some funky name.” And he’d laugh. “From Beverly Hills.” There weren’t too many of us from New York.

Do you feel that there are a lot of good roles for older men these days in film?

I don’t know, but I’m going to find out in a hurry! I’ve got to work. You know, I don’t feel that old. I think that I can pretty much duplicate what I did when I was 60. We’ll see.

James Caan passed away from a heart attack and coronary artery disease before we could find the time to get back together again and continue our conversation. He was 82. In his memory, below we share other tributes from those who knew him best:

“It’s hard to believe that he won’t be in the world anymore, because he was so alive and daring. A great actor, a brilliant director, and my dear friend. I’m gonna miss him.” – Al Pacino

“One of the great gifts in being part of The Godfather family was becoming friends with James Caan. Rest In Peace, Jimmy.” – Joe Mantegna

“Jimmy was not just a great actor with total commitment and a venturesome spirit, but he had a vitality in the core of his being that drove everything from his art and friendship to athletics and very good times.” – Director Michael Mann

“James Caan was an icon — a legend. He inspired everyone who has ever been in front of a camera. I was lucky to work with him and see his talent and his fantastic sense of humor firsthand.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

“James Caan. Loved him very much. Always wanted to be like him. So happy I got to know him. Never ever stopped laughing when I was around that man. His movies were best of the best. We all will miss him terribly. ” – Adam Sandler

STILL SERVIN’

By Phoebe Billups Photographs by Eric Axene

he starkly beautiful High Desert surrounding Victorville, California, is known for its blazing sunsets and mild weather. The white-hot sun glares down like a bank of Klieg lights, so it’s easy to understand why it has served as a backdrop for countless movies and TV shows. The jagged peaks, silhouetted against a blue sky, split wide open, have provided theatrical scenery for thrillers and westerns as varied as John Wayne’s early movie

TStagecoach (1939), Grand Theft Auto (1977), Contact (1997), and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006).

Against this scenic backdrop, Route 66 cuts through the parched sand and winds its way through iconic towns on the edge of the Mojave Desert. This stretch through the Inland Empire is the last outpost before the spectacular and sometimes dangerous Cajon Pass funnels traffic down into San Bernardino and on to bustling Los Angeles itself.

But up here in Victorville, almost as legendary as the area itself, stands Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe, a local and Route 66 staple since 1947. Situated on the northern outskirts, the pistachio-green diner with its geometric California-modern architecture is a holdout from another era. Inside, with a counter and stools, a neighborhood feel, and classic fare like chicken-fried steak, burgers, and biscuits ‘n gravy, Emma Jean’s embodies a welcome MidCentury simplicity. While chain restaurants have risen and fallen in popularity, this classic diner has held steady for

The Gentrys and staff prepare food for their loyal customers.

over seventy years. Since the 1940s, the cafe has attracted tourists from around the world, as well as filmmakers seeking to add a dash of authenticity to their pictures. The classic sign that has long served as a beacon at the edge of the road still alerts hungry newcomers that they’ve arrived at their destination.

Humble Beginnings

Bob and Kate Holland built Holland Burger Cafe in 1947 with cinder blocks from the historic cement plant just down the road. Back then, the cafe, now the longest-standing restaurant in Victorville, was the culmination of the couple’s lifelong dream of owning a restaurant. Although it began as a local truck stop, people soon came from all over San Bernardino County to try Mrs. Holland’s pies, and the cafe quickly earned a loyal base. But it was the heyday of Route 66, and the restaurant also became a popular stop with motorists traveling the highway to Los Angeles or Las Vegas, and changes were afoot. Enter the Gentry family, albeit one at a time, to the Holland Burger Cafe.

For over thirty years, Richard Gentry trucked cement for the nearby plant whose products built the cafe. A regular customer at the diner, he always made a point of stopping in to order a burger as he hauled loads along Route 66. Then, in the early ‘70s, Richard and his wife Emma Jean moved from their home in Fontana, about 40 miles south, to the Victorville area. There, Emma Jean became a server at Holland Burger Cafe, all the while aspiring to run a restaurant of her own. The couple’s youngest son, Brian, remembers his dad taking him to the diner to see his hard-working

mom. When Emma Jean took her break, the family would set aside their busy lives to eat lunch together.

The cafe went up for sale in 1979, and Richard and Emma Jean Gentry were the logical next owners. Richard had saved up enough money from trucking to buy it, and Emma Jean had worked at the diner for many years. She had trod enough steps there as a waitress to be more than ready to rebrand the big sign out front as her own. But she also honored her friendship with Kate Holland by keeping her name on it, too, so that it read “Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe.”

“She was really close to Mrs. Holland,” said Brian. “And when the opportunity came up [to purchase], we jumped on it. They [mom and dad] were going to keep it for a couple years and then sell it, but here we are, forty-two years later.”

To complete the fresh new appearance, Emma Jean put her own stamp on the cafe exterior too, with the nowiconic pistachio-green color. And with that, the new owners were off and running. But Emma Jean had bigger plans than just owning the café, she purchased it due to a deep desire to leave something for her sons. Brian, who was 12 years old when his parents bought the cafe, entertained dreams of becoming a truck driver or musician before he discovered his love for cooking. He spent hours in the kitchen with his mother, which led to his realization that this could be his future.

“I was in my mid-20s, and I really liked what I was doing,” Brian explained. He learned his mother’s recipes and created some new ones.

A true family venture, Richard also contributed to the restaurant’s success — by helping out when he wasn’t trucking, and by encouraging fellow truckers to stop by and patronize the eatery. “He was making his first load, then he’d come through and warm up the gravy and feed all his friends,” said Brian. “He’d get things going for us, then we’d show up, me and my mom.” Many of the customers in those days were truckers like Richard or workers from the local cement plant.

Along Come Changes

After Interstate 15 arrived in the 1960s, traffic ebbed on Route 66. However, truckers still made a point of passing through Victorville and stopping to enjoy the good company and classic food at Emma Jean’s. In the 1970s, a CB radio at the diner allowed truckers to call in their orders before they arrived. But while the diner endured, many of the area’s other historic buildings sadly disappeared.

In 2006, the Pixar movie Cars fueled an injection of love and attention to the Route, particularly among European tourists, although Americans were also rediscovering Route 66 for themselves, and Emma Jean’s, whose history followed the flow of traffic on the route, saw its crowds grow once again.

Passing on an Icon

Emma Jean passed away in 1996, and Brian and his wife Shawna stepped up to help Richard run the diner. Then when their father followed in 2008, Brian and Shawna became the new owners. Their three children, Emma Jean, Sarah, and Joshua, grew up on the property, eating breakfast at the diner counter each day before school. In their free time, the kids began to help out around the restaurant. Joshua, now

eighteen, is on the payroll and recently used his earnings to buy his first car.

The thing is, Emma Jean’s just seems destined to remain a family restaurant at its core. When asked whether one of the kids might be interested in taking over the restaurant, Shawna chuckled and said, “Oh, probably not.” But Brian sees their offspring possibly stepping in as managers or owners, even if they are not in the kitchen every day like their parents. As a family, the relationships that the Gentrys have fostered over forty years lend the diner a warm, friendly atmosphere. Customers are essentially guests, pulling up a chair at the family table. “I’m happy and compatible with the family business,” Brian added. “We have a good reputation and are known around the world.”

Hollywood Comes to Victorville

While some customers have known the café all their lives, other visitors might recognize it from its numerous appearances in music videos, TV shows, and movies. In Train’s Bulletproof Picasso video, The Walking Dead’s Emily Kinney waitresses at Emma Jean’s before taking off on a romantic road trip through the desert. Customers can sit at the counter where Uma Thurman calmly ordered a glass of water after clawing her way out of the grave in Kill Bill: Volume 2 . And photographers often pay to use the diner as a backdrop for photo shoots.

In addition to big name movies and TV shows, Emma Jean’s has helped many film school students and emerging directors create shorts, low-budget action movies, and final projects. Brian simply closes up shop early and lets a small crew swarm the premises with their equipment.

The ultimate compliment for a diner occurred in 2007, when Emma Jean’s was featured on an episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives TV show. Fieri named the restaurant one of the top three roadside cafes in the United States, earning it a place on page 187 of his 2008 book, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: An AllAmerican Road Trip... with Recipes!

Keeping It Simple

In a comforting routine reminiscent of its last 70-plus years in business, Emma Jean’s still opens its doors for breakfast at 5 o’clock every morning except Sunday. Customers peruse a menu that doesn’t look all that different than it did years ago, and Brian cooks right out in front of the customers, employing the “old ways” that Emma Jean taught him. While customers chow down on breakfast or lunch, they chat with Brian or Shawna as they work close by. Bottle-green hummingbirds dart between glistening glass feeders, just outside the window.

Emma Jean’s is a 1950s daydream rising out of the Mojave Desert, a sort of monument to a simpler time. Traffic on Route 66 has waxed and waned since 1947, but the little pale green eatery has stood through it all. And while tourism has helped propel Emma Jean’s to international stardom, it’s still the regulars who make Brian and Shawna happy to come to work in the morning. “They’re the backbone of our business. They’re what keep us going.”

The friendly atmosphere at Emma Jean’s fits hand-in-hand with the nostalgic image that has drawn the eye of so many filmmakers. When Bob and Kate Holland laid those first cinder blocks on the outskirts of Victorville, they may have lived in a very different world. Route 66 was in its heyday, fresh and exciting in the American imagination. Family fun meant packing the kids into the car and setting out on a road trip. And in many ways, their diner is an echo of this simpler, friendlier time, an iconic eatery that still draws locals, travelers, and filmmakers. This timelessness is what has kept Emma Jean’s relevant for the past 70 years, and will undoubtedly keep it up and running for at least 70 more.

Brian and Shawna Gentry pose outside of their historical diner.

EARTHLINGS

Photograph by Brennen Matthews

WELCOME

Roughly 150 miles from the explosion of color that is Las Vegas, Nevada, sits a much quieter, reflective experience, a short stretch of highway surrounded by barren but beautiful desert and empty, clear blue skies. But this lonely track of road is by no means “normal.”

It welcomes the weird, wacky, and strange, not to mention the paranormal. Named the Extraterrestrial Highway in 1996, aligning with the debut of Will Smith’s movie, Independence Day, Route 375 is undoubtedly the Silver State’s strangest road, and that’s saying something.

It all began during the hot mid-year months of June and July 1947, called the Summer of UFOs. Although U.S. airmen had reported strange unidentifiable objects in the skies during World War II, two highly-publicized events in 1947 fueled a mania of interest within the American public. The most publicized event was the Roswell, New Mexico, crash debris — we’ve all heard about that one — but the first event was a little less talked about and focused on a private aviator’s actual brush with flying saucers. Civilian pilot and businessman Kenneth Arnold was flying his small airplane on June 24, 1947, when he observed one of the most well-known UFO sightings to date - nine saucershaped objects, flying at high-speed. Of course, the incident left him baffled and unnerved and perhaps inevitably shouldered some responsibility for the now highly-touted Extraterrestrial Highway.

Once the news got out, a nationwide frenzy began. The Air Force started an investigation the following year, simply stating that the UFOs were probably Soviet aircraft — a reasonable explanation during the Cold War. But with that, the American obsession with extraterrestrials and UFO conspiracies was well underway.

By 1950, Nevada’s State Route 375, stretching from ghosttown Crystal Springs to the eccentric little town of Rachel, became closed to all public travel for no official reason. Just nine years ago, the government officially acknowledged those localities as Area 51 and Nevada’s Testing and Training Range. Although Area 51 was created secretly in 1955 as an airbase, America’s long history of UFO sightings and the area’s extremely heavy security have always had people questioning its use. In 1957, the highway was realigned to avoid the topsecret testing sites, and then opened to the public later that year.

Engineer Bob Lazar claimed to have worked with alien spaceships along the highway in 1981, eventually spilling his story to a Las Vegas television station. By that time, conspiracy theories about Area 51 had become mainstream, and Lazar’s stories helped the town of Rachel — population 48 — attract

visitors, curious to crack the alien mystery themselves. By 1996, the Nevada Commission on Tourism renamed Nevada State Route 375, the Extraterrestrial Highway, in hopes of attracting more tourists. It worked.

Not only was the renamed highway mentioned in the 1996 film Independence Day, but word quickly spread to road trippers coming from Vegas, and more roadside attractions began appearing. Nevada’s Testing and Training Range, where scientists conducted below-ground tests for nuclear weapons during the Cold War, turned into a museum for tourists. The highway now also flaunts the Alien Research Center, a pleasantly strange gift shop with a towering, 35-foot-tall alien statue named Fred. The only other sign of life is in Rachel at the Little A’Le’Inn, a UFO-modified cafe and motel whose sign out front featuring a pale alien with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes states that earthlings are indeed welcome. Other than that, it is the expansive clear and unpolluted Nevada night sky for stargazing.

The first stop along the highway is ET Fresh Jerky, an alien jerky shack that looks like it could be straight out of a sci-fi film. “Generally the first question folks will ask us is, do you have a bathroom? And, where’s your nearest gas station?” laughed Kristy Lamb, the manager of the shack. However, the eccentric store — featuring aliens and jerky — keeps roadtrippers interested after their initial questions. “I have a running joke with customers that our jerky comes from aliens, all the animals that are abducted get turned into jerky, and that they just need a human face to sell them,” said Lamb. “That’s why it’s out-of-this-world delicious.”

Fifteen years ago, the shack opened to keep tourists engaged in the alien experience along their long drive down the Extraterrestrial Highway. A fifth generation family member to live in the Las Vegas valley, it seemed like a natural step for Lamb to become manager of the alien jerky shack. Not surprisingly, she is an outspoken believer in extraterrestrial life. “Of course I believe in aliens and UFOs,” said Lamb. “The universe is way too big to say no.”

As travelers come from lively, bright-lighted Vegas, they encounter a vastly different world along the Extraterrestrial Highway. Besides the few roadside attractions, it offers 98 empty, eerie, but serene miles of open road. Over the years it’s become a destination in its own right, and with the mystery of Area 51, which is said to remain an active military base, still alive and well in pop culture and the minds of travelers, the mystery behind the area that started it all persists, compelling travelers to drive the silent, ethereal highway. And they still scan the skies, thanks to Kenneth Arnold.

Murder in the Desert

By Laura Love

“S

atan Blows a Hot Trombone” is what John S. Thorp titled his Real Detective true crime pulp story about a hitchhiker homicide that occurred in 1946 near Tucumcari, New Mexico, on Route 66. As I read his article, I felt like I had stepped back in time into a 1940s detective thriller.

My grandfather, J.V. (Jake) Gallegos, passed away years ago, but left a folder stuffed with stories from his old cases. One of the stories was a case that he investigated as an Assistant District Attorney in Tucumcari, New Mexico, working under District Attorney E. T. (Turner) Hensley.

I found news articles to coincide with grandpa’s notes as well as the Real Detective article. Grandfather’s words described the events as they unfolded:

“In June 1946, Dr. Thomas B. Hoover walked into Sheriff Beasley’s office and announced, ‘I want to report a murder.’ Our investigation began west of Tucumcari off of Route 66, near Dr. Hoover’s ranch where he reported discovering [the] body of a tall blond male who had been stabbed in the chest. The soil was sandy and there were tracks [that] the victim had made before he fell and died.

The coroner’s office confirmed a homicide. Sheriff Beasley [went on] the local Tucumcari radio station hoping someone could identify the victim. Three days went by and we still didn’t know who this man was. Frustration was mounting.

One evening I received a call from Beasley, he sounded excited. He told me, ‘You won’t believe it. I turned the pockets of the victim’s trousers inside out and found ‘Drummond’ written by a dry cleaner on the pocket!’ We had a name.

We decided to check the Tucumcari motels. Beasley and I discovered a ‘Drummond and Murray’ had registered at a motel the evening before the murder. The address Drummond gave was ‘Bathme.’ Neither Sheriff Beasley nor I could recall a city so named.

Returning to the office, I said, ‘Hold on Beasley, there’s a Bath, Maine!’ We called officials and requested information on Drummond. When the Finley Drummond home was called, there was no answer. The officers in Maine learned that Drummond had a brother in Missouri. Officials helped us locate the brother, Donald Drummond, in Kansas City.

Back in Tucumcari, a service station operator informed Beasley and I that a young man had bought gas and seemed [to be] in a hurry because he didn’t stop the motor or get out the car. The car was described as a 1938 green Ford.

This confirmed the description the victim’s brother had given us.

We thought that the man may not have wanted to get out of the car because of blood stains on the seat. Drummond had probably been stabbed in his car, then got out and took a few steps before falling to the ground.

A call from officials in Phoenix, Arizona, informed us that the green Ford had been located and a young man and woman were apprehended as they were getting into the car. The young man, James A. Murray, told the officers that he had purchased the car, but he had no receipt for it. Neither the young man nor the woman could give the officers proof of purchasing the vehicle.

Under intense questioning by Arizona officers, Murray admitted that he had stabbed Finley T. Drummond. Murray had been hitchhiking through Oklahoma in the blistering summer sun and Finley had given him a ride. Murray was returning from a funeral in Oklahoma for his two younger brothers who had accidentally drowned. Drummond’s brother told us Finley had been a marine and was on his way to California to be best man at a wedding.

Murray waived extradition and we obtained our extradition order from the Governor of Arizona to the Governor of New Mexico. District Attorney Hensley, Sheriff Beasley and myself went to Phoenix to pick up the car and Murray.

At the trial, Murray repudiated his confession and insisted that the officers in Phoenix had forced him to confess. He claimed the officers questioned him for long periods of time and put words in his mouth. His other defense was that Drummond had made a pass at him. They pulled off the road and that’s when Murray stabbed him.

Donald Drummond testified at the trial. In his testimony he stated that his brother had never demonstrated any homosexual tendencies. He said Finely was exceptionally kind, even with strangers.

Hensley and I thought that we had a first-degree murder [case] with the death penalty. Murray had stabbed Drummond without provocation while having the intention of committing a felony, stealing the car. This made it first degree murder.

The verdict came in. Murder in the first degree but the jury recommended leniency because of his age; Murray was 19. Judge J. C. Compton committed him to life in the penitentiary.”

These and many other similar stories abound from my grandpa’s days as an ADA.

Mugshot of James A. Murray.

Hungry for fun?

Dig in with the Travel OK Trip Planner App!

Want to build a road trip so tasty, you’ll come back for seconds? Oklahoma offers a smorgasbord of attractions just off Route 66 — from sandy beaches to charcuterie boards! Plan, share and customize your itinerary with our free, convenient app.

Simplify travel across the board. Download the free TravelOK app or visit TravelOK .VisitWidget.com.

White Dog Hill Clinton

A TOWN WITH HEART

Alongside the Mother Road’s path through Litchfield, Illinois, stands a museum with a heartwarming origin story. The Litchfield Museum & Route 66 Welcome Center, at 334 North Historic Old Route 66, is housed in a new but retro-style building with neon signage, an homage to Vic Suhling’s gas station which formerly occupied the site. The restored Suhling neon sign (ceremoniously re-lit in October 2013), stands nearby, and with the historic Ariston Cafe across the road, offers photographers a plethora of photo ops.

Although requiring the entire community to make it happen, the vision for this attraction is credited to one man with a passion for local history and a love for his hometown. David Jackson was editor of Litchfield’s local newspaper for several decades. Through his collections of local memorabilia and his newspaper column of Litchfield history, “Break Time,” Jackson’s dream was finally, but posthumously, realized—to one day open a museum that valued local history as much as he did. Jackson sadly passed away in 2010.

However, Jackson’s widow, Martha (McHenry Cassity) Jackson, and his daughter, Anne Jackson, were determined to save Dave’s dream from fading into obscurity. This stepmother-stepdaughter team (Anne is the daughter of Dave and his first wife, Mina) were a force to be reckoned with as, with fellow community members, they organized an association and planned a museum. To that end, Martha purchased the Suhling property in 2011.

Jackson’s treasure trove provided the impetus for the association’s first fundraising effort. “I ran across a book created by the Jacksonville Historical Society that featured old postcards from that town. It just so happened that my dad had a large postcard collection from Litchfield,” said Anne, secretary of the association. “We thought maybe we could do a similar project, so in April 2011, we had a meeting to discuss

the possibility. An hour later, we came out of the meeting with plans for the postcard book to be our first fundraiser.”

Soon, the newly-established Litchfield Museum Association began selling copies of Greetings from Litchfield, Illinois Pictorial History in Postcards, curated from Jackson’s collection. The town rallied in support of the association’s mission in various ways, including donations, grants from local trust funds, and a sponsored 2,000-mile bicycle trip on Route 66, completed by resident Andy Ritchie.

By May of 2012, the association had raised enough money to begin construction, and within a year, the grand opening took place on June 1, 2013. Litchfield residents had also pitched in with material donations to furnish the exhibits, such as a desk from Litchfield’s original City Hall and a 1904 cornerstone and time capsule from the Old American Radiator Company.

“We are continually amazed at the generosity of the residents of the Litchfield area,” said Anne. “The constant influx of items that stream into the museum keep the displays fresh, and the volunteers excited and busy!” Coupled with Route 66 merchandise, a Veteran’s section, and a gallery of photos from Litchfield’s rich past, the contents of the museum perfectly encapsulate the quaint and hard-working spirit of Litchfield.

In a city with two Route 66 alignments that sit practically side-by-side, it is fitting that the museum has been met with nothing but support and success from Mother Road enthusiasts and pride and assistance from local residents.

“We are really proud of our connection with Route 66,” said Anne. “We welcome visitors from all over the world to our small town, and we think we can show these visitors what small town America is really like.” The museum stands proudly as a symbol of the power that community and historical appreciation can have, even in a town of only 7,000 people— something David Jackson would certainly be proud to see.

Image by Dennis Garrels.

Desert Noticeboard

Avista of road and desert stretch out as far as the eye can see, the horizon disappearing into the blue sky. The land is barren for miles, interspersed with long abandoned remains of civilization and views of the Marble Mountains. It is remote and hot. The intense desert heat simmers off the tarmac, and every now and again, a painted shield bearing “66” appears on the parched highway, assuring you that you are on the Mother Road stretch in the Mojave Desert.

Then, along the sunbaked banks of the old highway, rocks in black and brown, stark against the light sand, appear, meticulously arranged to spell out names and words: STARK, DON, Shane ♥ Karen. Travelers have spelled out their names and messages in dozens of stones, a seemingly random occurrence of messages to no one.

This phenomenon appears in the Mojave Desert about ten miles east of Amboy, California, along Route 66 and continues for miles. For years, travelers have spontaneously gathered the scattered, ancient lava rocks and created an outdoor Route 66 rock art gallery.

The rocks themselves are believed to have come from the Amboy Crater, a dormant cinder cone volcano, located about three miles west of the town of Amboy, that last erupted 10,000 years ago. As it erupted, it spewed ash and debris into the atmosphere, scattering the contrasting rocks across the desert floor.

Some enterprising travelers have brought their own spray-painted rocks and added their white, blue, or redcolored rock messages to the collection, helping them stand out from the rest.

“I’ve been driving through here for maybe ten years, and you can see a lot of people writing things like little initials, heart initials, just names and things like that. I think it’s just a cool little memory that people have. They pull over, write their names, take pictures, and it’s a memory that stays there,” says Nichole Healy, an employee of historic Roy’s Motel and Cafe located in Amboy.

About ten miles east of Amboy is Roadrunner’s Retreat, a closed restaurant and service station built along Route 66 in the 1960s by Roy and Hellen Tull. It closed in 1973 when Interstate 40 bypassed that section of Route 66. Today,

the ‘60s Googie-style station that once served the traveling American public lies empty and dormant, its 30-foot-tall neon sign no longer buzzing.

Yet the stone messages were a phenomenon even back in the heyday of Roadrunner’s Retreat. “I know that as a kid growing up and heading out there with my grandfather the rock work was constantly evolving,” said Ryan Anderson, current caretaker of Roadrunner’s Retreat.

The true origins of how the rock messages started — or who started them — is unclear, but by the time that F. B. “Duke” Dotson and his family took over the venue from the Tulls in 1963, the rock messages had already started. “Travelers would stop for food or gas or even a restroom break; they would run across the street and arrange the rocks into their names and such. People would eat at the restaurant and go directly across the highway and rearrange the stones into their own name and walk back to their cars and leave,” Anderson recounted, as told to him by Duke Dotson, son of F. B. Dotson. “Some of the stones have remained untouched and even have dates next to them.”

The stone messages are a unique feature of this stretch of desert road, and a testament to the human urge to instinctively leave one’s mark. I was here. Perhaps these rock stories are a way for visitors to leave something permanent of themselves behind, to create a bond with the landscape, or just to prove they survived the 100-plus-degree desert temperatures.

“As people are traveling by, they see the [stones] and ‘Let’s do that’ out in the middle of nowhere … let’s leave our mark,” said Delvin Harbour, historian at the Victorville Route 66 Museum. The volunteers at the Victorville Museum document the quirks of their section of Route 66, maintaining the story of the historic road.

Even as Route 66 has changed, the stone messages are a way for travelers to keep the traditions of journeying down the Mother Road alive, adding to its wonder and quirkiness.

“I think it [the rocks] add to the uniqueness, the randomness that you’ll find out here that you just don’t see in other places,” Healy adds.

If you have a message or name that begs to be written on this desert landscape, be careful in the heat, especially in the summertime — it is the desert, after all.

Casey CLAYPOOL

As the capital city of Illinois, Springfield is not only centrally located, but is home to its fair share of the state's iconic attractions. But Springfield is also home to the headquarters of the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, the nonprofit organization that looks after everything Route 66 in all of its communities up and down its 3��-plus miles of the Mother Road. Route 66 state license plates, the Visitors Guide, serving its �� communities, and marketing its attractions and events are all part of promoting each and every mile of the Prairie State’s sizable stretch of Route 66. In this Parting Shot, get to know Casey Claypool, the woman behind the Byway’s outreach, from exciting downtown Chicago through quaint villages and unique cities to the Chain of Rocks Bridge.

What is the most memorable place you’ve visited in America? Sanibel Island, Florida. Along Route 66? The Pontiac Museum. What did you want to be when you grew up? An Air Force pilot (after watching Top Gun of course). Who has caused you to be starstruck? Michael Jordan. What characteristic do you respect the most in others? Honesty. Dislike in others? Jealousy. What characteristic do you dislike in yourself? My procrastination. Who would you want to play you in a film based on your life? Tina Fey. Talent that you WISH you had? Playing the piano. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? The way someone treats you reflects how they feel about themselves. Best part about getting older? Seeing my three daughters grow into young adults. What would the title of your memoir be? She Had to Learn How to Love Again. First music concert ever attended? Jimmy Buffet. What is your greatest extravagance? Regular facials & massages. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My hair color. What do you consider your greatest achievement? My three beautiful daughters. Most memorable gift you were ever given? Becoming a mother. What is the secret to a happy life? Being married to your best friend and living life to the fullest. What breaks your heart? Seeing one of my daughters hurting. What is the last

TV show you binge watched? Yellowstone What is your favorite song? Come to Me by the Goo Goo Dolls. What is your favorite musical artist? Ryan Bingham. What is still on your bucket list? A vacation in the Maldives. What do you wish you knew more about? The Solar System. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Fall in love. What fad or trend do you hope comes back? Big Hair. What movie title best describes your life? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. First celebrity crush? Kirk Cameron. Ghost town or big city person? Ghost Town. What does a perfect day look like to you? My husband and our three daughters on the beach on Sanibel Island. What would your spirit animal be? Dolphin. Which historical figure — alive or dead — would you most like to meet? John Wayne. What meal can you not live without? Pizza. Bizarre talent that you have that most people don’t know about? I can touch my nose with my tongue. What makes you laugh? Listening to others laugh. What do you think is the most important life lesson for someone to learn? Do what makes you happy. What is one thing you have always wanted to try, but have been too afraid to? Skydive. What do you want to be remembered for? My work ethic and being a good friend.

Illustration: Jennifer Mallon.

With more than 300 days of sunshine a year – and a unique mix of tranquil waters, rugged mountains, and tons of fun – it’s hard to stay inside. Discover Lake Havasu City – just a short drive from Route 66 – and play like you mean it.®